Anti-Malaria

I started to take my anti-malarial last week, and I thought that would be a good reality check. I've taken my two weeks of preventative medication and I still haven't grasped that I am leaving tomorrow. Chloroquine comes in a bright pink pill to be taken once a week and works to protect the body against the Malaria parasite. The malaria strands in Haiti are not the worst in the world, though only this specific drug works in that region. I am grateful that I'm not taking the kind that causes extreme sun sensitivity. That seems counter intuitive to me considering mosquitoes thrive in tropical areas where people suffer the sun anyway.

Larium, the anti-malarial I took in Senegal was an experience in itself. One of the prominent side effects is vivid and lucid dreaming, which a stoner friend of mine was particularly excited about before we left. I had the privilege (misfortune?) to experience these effects and enjoyed the added variety to my sleep, though it was disconcerting to wake up with ghosts in my wall (or so I thought) and memories of recurring meetings with a talking wolf.

All joking aside, I realized the importance of my medicine when my four-year-old host sister contracted malaria. My family there slept with nets over their beds, but it's not practical to take preventative drugs when they can also serve as treatments. Natacha (my sister) was out of school for a week with a fever though she recovered fully. Not every family has that fortune. I lived in an urban center, in a middle class neighborhood, with an educated family and we all had the resources to prevent or treat malaria.

National Geographic's cover story for July was about Malaria as a global crisis and caught my attention for obvious reasons. I went to a few fundraisers in Dakar "pour combattre le pilu" (to combat malaria), and now, for the first time in a few decades, the international community is taking steps to slow down this disease. The images and stories in the article were eye-opening since I didn't realize how wide spread, diverse, and resilient the parasite is. This powerful and invisible creature is killing in the third world, because more affluent nations can afford preventative measures (as evidenced in my weekly dose of chlorquine).

The article reminded me of the privilege that I'll carry with the rest of my baggage when I leave tomorrow, and I imagine that will be reiterated when I arrive in Port-au-Prince on Friday morning and though out the next seven weeks. I guess my anti-malarial did lead to a reality check about it's medical and international significance. With the chloroquine my body is almost ready to experience Haiti, though I'm still not sure I'm emotionally prepared.