race against malaria
April 26th, 2008 at 9:05 am | posted by ONE.PartnersTodd Jennings, who works for PATH in Zambia, sends us his last post in a series for World Malaria Day.
4-25-2008
The 2008 Race Against Malaria concluded this World Malaria Day morning with all 31 riders arriving safely at the Mukuni Park Grounds in Livingstone. They had a royal reception—literally. Princess Astrid of Belgium shook their hands, followed by Rupiah Banda, the vice president of Zambia; and Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the South African entertainer and Roll Back Malaria representative. A huge crowd had assembled in Livingstone for this year’s World Malaria Day celebration, which featured loads of VIPs like the above, plus all the health ministers from 14 southern African countries. All gave a mighty applause when the cyclists entered the park, especially when everyone learned the riders had covered 1,000 kilometers since Monday.
Joining the Cycling Association of Zambia for this year’s event was Tour d’Afrique cyclist Irmgard Bush. Because of her personal experience with malaria, she didn’t hesitate when invited to participate: Irmgard almost died of malaria in 2006 while on a marathon tour from Cairo to Cape Town. She suffered a severe bout of malaria and was attended to by medical staff in Mazabuka, Zambia. Since then, Irmgard has been a vocal supporter in the fight against malaria.
Irmgard was the only woman in the Race Against Malaria, and for much of the way she pedaled on a tandem with national cycling coach Peter Chintu, the rider featured in an earlier posting on this blog. In this audio clip, Peter talks about this year’s experience.
-Todd Jennings, Advocacy Officer, Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA), a program at PATH, Lusaka, Zambia.
[Photo: Race Against Malaria finishers Irmgard Bush and Peter Chintu; credit: Todd Jennings]
