Church-state partners aid malaria fight in Zambia

When Silumesii Mubiana’s 86-year-old uncle fell ill with hypertension, Mubiana bypassed closer government-run hospitals, traveling instead to the church-run Macha Mission Hospital 25 miles away.

Mubiana said the reason was simple: at the Macha hospital, patients receive better care. “There’s negligence in government hospitals,” Mubiana said, as two kittens scurried about and doctors made their rounds at the church-run hospital to check on patients like his uncle, Davis Mwaiya. “I had lost hope, but here he is on the road to recovery.”

In this remote part of Zambia, where it takes more than a day’s walk to get to any nearby town, malaria has gone from a death sentence to near elimination. A partnership between the Zambian government and churches has created unique but effective collaboration in the fight to wipe out malaria.