Janet's Story

Janet stands in the little kiosk she started with a loan from her local Credit with Education group. For just under two years, she has been participating in Credit with Education, an effective self-help service created by Freedom from Hunger. In the program, Janet and hundreds of thousands of women around the world are borrowing money at affordable interest rates so they can start and sustain small businesses. At the same time their incomes grow, the women participate in lifeskills training on health, nutrition and business management.

With support from GlaxoSmithKline's Community Partnerships, Freedom from Hunger was able to add malaria education to the lifeskills training in West Africa. In this malaria-endemic area, education on how the disease is spread, how it can be prevented and how to treat it when it occurs, can mean the difference between life and death.

On the surface, Janet has every reason to be proud. At her little shop, she sells basic food items, treats and household staples such as cooking supplies to her neighbors in the village. She makes enough to feed her small family and has even set aside savings in case of emergencies. Her family no longer wonders if they will have enough to eat, or if they will have money to buy needed medicine. In her regular education sessions, she has learned how to keep her business growing at the same time she has learned how to keep her children well-nourished and healthy.

But as Janet tells us her story, the problem becomes clear. She says, "This is Ray," pointing to her 11-year-old son sitting quietly in the corner. She tightens the wrap that securely ties her one-year-old daughter, Jennifer, to her back and explains, "Ray is just getting over malaria. I took him to the doctor last week when I noticed that he was not playing with his friends and was feverish. He's normally very active." Janet said that she learned at her Credit with Education group meetings that inactivity could be a sign of malaria.

"So I didn't wait," Janet said. At the clinic, the nurse gave her anti-malaria medicine for Ray. In her education sessions, Janet had learned that it was important to give Ray the entire course of medicine instead of stopping when he seemed to feel better. Then, just as she had learned to do in her education session, Janet asked for an insecticide-treated net. "When our group learned how to prevent malaria, we learned about nets -- especially the ones that kill mosquitoes. But the nurse said only pregnant women and women with children under the age of five could get one."

"I had left Jennifer at home and couldn't prove that I qualified. I brought Jennifer with me when I went back the next day, but they were out." Janet swallowed hard and then said, "I have lost two children to malaria. They were six and four. They died in my arms." She said, "I can have no peace of mind. I am afraid for my children."

It was easy to solve Janet's immediate problem by providing her with one of our own nets on the spot. But what about all the other families in rural villages who were trying to get nets? Findings from a recent impact study on our malaria initiative confirm that women in our programs become knowledgeable about malaria and are able to buy nets as a result of their participation. But all too often, there are no nets for sale in their village. And the more remote the village...the less likely it is that nets are available.

That's why Freedom from Hunger created its HealthKeepers program--to give Janet and women like her a reilable, affordable, and even friendly neighborhood resource to help protect family health.

Read more about Freedom from Hunger's HealthKeepers program.