Malaria is endemic throughout Congo.
Last week, I was surprised to hear that my good friend had malaria. The conversation started and ended without a second thought or a concern.
Luckily he is an adult man. And he has the means to afford the required medicine. But if the same was a poor pregnant woman, we could have been preparing for a funeral now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16340462
It is a familiar scene in a region still rated one of the poorest, and most dangerous, in the world.But instead of the more familiar search for food, shelter or medicine, the women here -many displaced from their homes by years of conflict - are after nets: cheap, simple, insecticide-soaked, life-saving, mosquito bed nets.
"Malaria is the main killer here in Congo, especially for pregnant women and children," says Dr Vincker Lushombo, from Save the Children, watching as each woman's details are recorded, and a net handed over with brief instructions.
"But in one badly affected area here, we distributed 10,000 nets and saw malaria rates drop by over a third."
