28th and 29th October, 2010
Jane explains to the children about home management of fever
Fever is an abnormal high body temperature or a disease characterized with abnormal body temperature. Under normal conditions the body temperature ranges from 36.6 oC to 37.2 oC. Mild or moderate fever (40.55 oC) causes weakness or exhaustion but when it reaches 42.2 oC it may cause convulsion or death if not attended to.
This abnormal rise in body temperature may be due to Malaria, Typhoid Fever and many other diseases. Malaria transmission is endemic and perennial. The species responsible for severe malaria is Plasmodium falciparum, a dominant parasite. Malaria is also the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Ghana and the Navrongo District not exempt.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that between 1.5-2.7 million people die of malaria, while 300-500 million clinical cases occur annually (WHO, 2003). It contributes to poverty and inequalities in the developing world. It also contributes largely to anaemia in children and pregnant women.
Populations at risk such as children and pregnant women need rapid diagnosis and timely treatment hence early detection of signs and symptoms of fever as a result of an erupting disease such as malaria is essential and the first aid to control the disease.
Cheerful Hearts Foundation therefore saw the need to educate school pupils in selected schools within the Navrongo District on the appropriate home management of Fever to help provide first aids to children or people show sign of a disease condition characterised by Fever.
