Rural farmers turn malaria medics in Sierra Leone

By Katrina Manson

MALLAY, Sierra Leone (Reuters) - A year ago Adama Jongo, a rice and cassava farmer in Sierra Leone, almost died from malaria while pregnant.

Now, the 37-year old mother of seven has turned volunteer medic to fight the disease under a pioneering scheme to bring life-saving healthcare closer to rural communities.

Malaria is the number one killer in Sierra Leone, a former British colony in West Africa ranked by the United Nations as the least developed country in the world.

Under a pilot scheme run by aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Jongo has been given a tester kit and trained to care for the most vulnerable in her village, a collection of mud huts 200 km (124 miles) southeast of the capital Freetown.

Instead of resorting to traditional medicine and "pehpeh doctors" who deal in out-of-date or fake medication, pregnant women and young children too weak to travel to far-off health centers can turn to Jongo for effective drugs and care.

If the tester kit shows they have malaria, Jongo administers a 3-day course of drugs she keeps locked in a special box.

Although free treatment is sometimes available in Sierra Leone to fight the mosquito-borne disease -- whose deadliest strain is common in the country's mangrove swamps and tropical forests -- many cannot get to health clinics in time.

"Some women are child bearing and pregnant so it's difficult for them to get to a clinic because they are attacked with malaria and fever -- it gives them problems to walk," Jongo said, her 9-month old baby in her arms.