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Malawi-bound students raising money for mosquito nets
LETHBRIDGE- A group of local post-secondary students hopes not only to help people in one of the world’s least-developed countries, but to bring something back with them.
Fifteen students from a wide range of studies at Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge are preparing for a four-week trip in late spring to the African nation of Malawi. They’ll assist with blood testing clinics and raise awareness of HIV and AIDS, malaria, and hypertension.
Malawi has a high prevalence of malaria, spread by mosquitoes, due to its location on the world’s ninth largest lake, explained Paige Hopper, a second-year student in the bachelor of health science and public health program. The group is raising money to buy mosquito nets.
“These mosquito nets are $15 apiece, but they don’t have the money to spend $15 on a mosquito net,” Hopper said. “And it’s not like it only lasts for a day, it lasts for a long period of time. But it’s the difference between them being able to feed their families and them being able to prevent malaria, and their goal at the end of the day is subsistence.”