Backed by Rotary’s Programs of Scale award, Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia confronts a worldwide malady at the local level
By Diana Schoberg Photography by Esther Ruth Mbabazi
Latham Chisanga had been in a car accident a few years back, and he’d dealt with the physical repercussions ever since. So in February 2020, when a backache and fever came on, Chisanga skipped another visit to the clinic, swallowed a couple of painkillers, and got on with his life. Days later, he collapsed outside a neighbor’s house and fell into a coma. At the hospital, his malaria test came back positive. He died a few days later.
His mother, Martha Lungu, wondered how this could have happened to a member of her family. After all, she was the executive administrator of Malaria Partners Zambia, the local branch of an international campaign led by Rotary members to end malaria. Lungu, a member of the Rotary Club of Ndola, didn’t see how she could continue her work. “How did I fail?” she lamented. “How come I didn’t do this right? And how am I going to talk to people about the prevention of malaria?”
A few months later, two people intervened. "You need to use your son's death to educate others, so we don't lose another life," insisted a minister who had attended her son's funeral. And a friend convinced Lungu that her son's death gave her more credibility, not less. "If it happened to me, it could happen to anyone," Lungu says, conveying her friend's message. "I know what I'm talking about. I know malaria kills. And I know malaria can be cured."
