Mkola, Mother
About Mkola
Mkola mum of nine children and grandmother to five, has first-hand knowledge of malaria and its impact on the Mahembe community in Kigoma, Tanzania.
When we first met Mkola, back in 2016, she told us that that one of the biggest problems with malaria was simply the lack of knowledge around the disease – with many people thinking traditional healers were best placed to treat it.
"AFTER GETTING EDUCATION ABOUT MALARIA I CAN SAY THE SITUATION HAS GREATLY IMPROVED."
MKOLA
Two years on from 2016 and Mkola has seen great improvements in her community both in the number of cases and in attitudes towards prevention and seeking treatment. Mkola says that because of the support from Tanzania Communications and Development Centre (TCDC), she now understands the symptoms of malaria much better and if someone in the family is feeling unwell they go to the hospital.
The Tanzania Communications and Development Centre (TCDC), a project funded by the Comic Relief and GSK partnership, train volunteers, Community Change Agents, who then take malaria knowledge into local areas, talking to community groups, teachers and school children about how to prevent malaria and what signs or symptoms to look out for.