The day started pretty chilly and we had episode 2 of the “Weird Night-Time Dreams” show starring Zack, Karina and Sophia over our pancake and egg breakfast. We decided to check the CDC light trap we set the night before to see if we had any success and yay!, Our trap finally got some mosquitoes.

We then headed to the MRT boardroom to participate in their weekly meetings. We had interesting insights into how reports are generated. And we got to enjoy one of the perks of working here at MRT; the daily tea break at 11 am.

We then continued on our quest to understand more about the healthcare system here in rural Zambia. We embarked on a journey to a more rural part of the district. The ride was breathtaking – literally; a combination of a mini roller coaster ride and a mini-safari except we saw only goats, cows, chicken and sheep on dirt roads that we still aren’t convinced were real roads. We also learned why “you can’t yoke a horse”. After about an hour and half, we landed in the community health center at Siabunkululu in the Kalombo district. We got the chance to interview community health workers (CHWs) who gladly answered questions to the best of their knowledge. It was amazing to see the work been done by these CHWs considering the fact that they were all volunteers and had other jobs.

We went on a mini-hike to see a zone assigned to one of the CHWs. The households in this village were very scattered yet this CHW with his bicycle could visit his people very frequently. The village is made up of about 300 – 400 households and each household has an average of 8 people. His health post is a beautiful, local church pictured below.

After a day packed with activity and emotions, we headed back to Macha. On our way, we learned so much about the history of the Tonga people and the various languages in Zambia. The conversations during the day really sparked the interest of some team members in learning more about medical anthropology. We got back to our hostel later that evening and had dinner – rice with soup and some beef meatballs. After such a good meal, we could not leave without saying “Twalumba”, which means “We thank you”.

Stay tuned… The weekend fun just began!!!!!

Another day in the wonderful Zambian wilderness! Today, we got to leave all of our arachnid friends behind and leave the confines of the MRT compound to explore the local surroundings with the ANTOOMWE Project Field Team. A quick breakfast of oatmeal (with maybe a bit too much peanut butter) and we were on our way. We first met with the team of volunteers and MRT staff who comprise the field workers for the project, trying our luck to introduce ourselves with greetings from the local language. Mwabuka Buti!

We packed ourselves into the research truck and headed out from the compound. Snug as some bugs in a rug (MRT Field Vehicle)! After a bumpy ride and some beautiful scenery, we reached our first stop at a local Health Center in the town of Mapanza. We were fortunate enough to be led on a guided tour through the facility in order to better understand the care pathway for local Zambians who need medical assistance. We were able to observe all aspects of their work, including visiting their maternity ward and specialized HIV care building. We completed our tour with an in-depth discussion about how the data they collect from the local population is helping to add to research about the prevalance and spread of malaria throughout rural Africa.

After giving thanks to the incredible workers at the health center, we filed back into our field truck with the goal of observing first-hand how data is collected in the field. We split up to see how mosquitos were caught and important malaria-related data was collected and recorded. We helped demonstrate to some local people how to set up and monitor CDC light traps for mosquito collection. Their continued understanding and support for the research work is vital to its success. (Maybe these traps will work better than the one we set up at the camp!)

Other members of the group went house-to-house to collect blood-spot samples that would later be used to test for prevalence of malaria. They assisted by taking temperatures and recording data, but also took a step away from the work to make new friends and shoo away hungry chickens!

Lunchtime! The team stoped by a local restaurant to enjoy a rural Zambian food staple: Sheema with Duck. There was not enough to go around, so the less adventurous stuck with good old fashioned jelly sandwiches and french fries. Back in the field, we took more samples, went on a hike, tried our best to make friends with the local wildlife, got rejected by said wildlife, and then played soccer with a bunch of the local kids! Work hard, play hard? Maybe we need to practice our skills a bit more for next time…

Dirty, exhausted, and a bit dehydrated after a long day in the hot sun, the team retired to base camp for a team movie night. Rice, chicken, and green beans our now officially our favorite dinner. How tomorrow can top this, we don’t really know, but we are excited to find out! Kwasiya Buti, Goodnight!

Today we had the amazing opportunity to sit in on Dr. Thuma’s HIV clinic. His father founded the Macha Mission Hospital in the 1950’s and Dr. Thuma has served this community for decades. He founded the Macha Research Trust and is an incredibly dedicated, beloved member of the community.

At the clinic, we learned about the challenges of patient adherence, the burden of travel (some live >80km from the hospital), and HIV monitoring and treatment. The patients were lovely and kind, all dressed in their best clothes for their doctor’s visit. We are so grateful for the experience.

We also had the opportunity to interview the patient enrollment coordinator for Macha Research Trust’s HIV trial. He was an inspiring person, heavily involved in education and programming in the community and provided a wealth of information on HIV and malaria.

After a yummy lunch, Dr. Thuma gave us a full hospital tour. The Macha Mission Hospital consists of a series of buildings, connected by covered walkways. A USAID grant allowed them to build the coveted walkway so patients (for example, mothers mid-delivery) wouldn’t be rained on as they were transferred from one ward to another.

We were struck by how much of a difference was made with a single donation, and how complex the decision making process is; do they repair a building, or purchase more drugs or IVs? The staff here is incredibly skilled at doing the most possible with limited resources.

Quote of the day: “We can’t wait until people walk through the hospital doors. Health starts in the community. We need to try to keep people out of the hospitals.”

It seems like Macha has been very successful in this respect. While 15 years ago, the children’s ward was packed two children to a bed all suffering from malaria, today there were only 4-5 children on the ward.

This rainy season marked the first time there were no deaths from malaria in the area!

At the end of the day, we revisited the Macha labs to learn more about their current large cohort study.

Finally, some amazing Macha researchers brought over a CDC mosquito light net for us to experiment with! We hung it up outside our hostel before dusk.

Cross your fingers that tomorrow morning we’ll have some mosquitoes to share!

Greetings from Macha!

Today our team had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jenny Stevenson, scientific director and medical entomologist at MRT, and Dr. Phil Thuma, the founding director of the MRT. Jenny runs numerous entomological studies that assess novel malaria control tools in their semi-field systems. Phil grew up in rural Zambia. He is a Hopkins-trained pediatrician who became a senior scientist at the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health, and has worked at the Macha Mission Hospital since the 70s.

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We had a chance to take a tour of the research grounds–the basic science labs, clinical lab, insectaries, and their semi-field systems.

We also shadowed experts in molecular analyses for malaria epidemiology and entomology; in entomological studies, field work, and non-molecular work; and in malaria case reporting, GIS studies, data management, and logger studies today :).

Everyone here has been lovely, sharing their wealth of knowledge on the multiple facets of malaria surveillance and control. We are very grateful, and excited to see what we learn this week!

Stay tuned…

Welcome to Macha!

The morning commenced with a three hour drive from Jollyboys to Macha Research Trust with all 8 of us propped up in the benches of the Macha Truck that generously picked us up!

After a bumpy road where everyone’s legs were intertwined and we determined each other’s spirit animals, we finally made it! Time to actually commence work time.

We had some run-ins with some excessively large spiders when we got to our rooms but conquered that fear (kind of) and moved on to a wonderful dinner at the Macha cafeteria.

Full of delicious green beans, rice, beef and salad we spent time as a team watching a movie and retired to bed, excited for the day ahead!

We arrived safely in Livingstone, Zambia Friday afternoon and met up with our VecTech sponsor Tristan at our gorgeous hostel!

We were surprised by how dense the mosquitoes are here-in the dry season! We’ve gotten very diligent at applying our bug spray!

On Saturday, we did the ultimate trifecta of activities: a canoe safari, a game drive, and a sunset cruise.

The guides teased us that the canoe safari was a boring option, but boy were they wrong! We saw crocodiles, beautiful birds, zebras, and more than enough hippos to last a lifetime!

The game drive was completely amazing! We saw giraffes, warthogs, zebras, giraffes, impalas, so many baboons (they’re like squirrels here) and even a wildabeast!

The highlight was when we came thisclose to beautiful elephants, including three babies!

Finally, we saw more hippos, elephants, and a beautiful African sunset!

On Sunday, we headed to Victoria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world! After walking along to see the falls from above, we undertook an “Under the Spray” excursion! We thought this was going to be a nice little hike or boat ride into the mist… turns out we had to raft upstream through the Victoria Falls current and then scale countless slippery rocks! Best team-building exercise ever! It was all worth it though as we SWAM Victoria Falls!

Hi from South Africa! Two flights down, one flight to go before we reach Zambia. It’s a long haul, but we are SO excited to be here!

The flight out of Washington went smoothly and we enjoyed a snack and finished some last minute to-do’s before boarding.

Our flight was about 13 hours and included 2 meals and a yummy snack, which we all agreed was some of the best airplane food we’d ever had. We landed in Qatar at 4pm local time!

None of us have any idea what this bear is. We were able to get dinner and wander around the 2019 Best Airport in the World. We were impressed by the modern decor and elaborate play structures!

Sophia carted her giant backpack all around the airport. It’s half the size of her body!

There were a few worried moments as our flight was delayed and we have a quick connection here in South Africa, but the wonderful customer service staff at Qatar airlines slipped us onto an earlier flight no problem!

Again, the in flight snacks were a huge hit!

We sat far apart on the plane. So on arrival to South Africa, Sophia, Karina, and I made sure the rest of our team didn’t forget what we look like 🙂

Now we’re freshened up and super excited to finish this leg of our journey! See you in Livingstone!

Yesterday was our final poster presentation for our US-based project. We had a great time interacting with clinicians from all over the hospital and CBID staff, receiving tons of valuable feedback! It’s now time to switch gears to focus on our global project!

After braving rush hour traffic and a few last-minute packing crises, we are all at the airport, ready to start our 34 hour journey to Zambia (you read that right-34 hours!!)

Here are a few of us enjoying a little pre-flight snack! We’re so excited to share our journey with you and will update you on our progress soon!

Bon voyage! We are a design team in the Bioengineering Innovation and Design master’s program at Johns Hopkins University. On July 31st, 2019 we will take off on a 3-week trip to Zambia and Uganda where we will learn about mosquito surveillance and control to prevent the spread of malaria. Stay tuned to follow our journey! Check out our ‘About the Team’ page for more on us and read ‘About the Problem’ to learn more on the purpose of our trip!