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■Bio-mathematics, Statistics and Nano-Technologies: Mosquito Control Strategies

found that children who had survived cerebral malaria had a 3.67-fold increased risk of

a deficit in attention and working memory and that although working memory seemed

to improve somewhat over time, the attention deficit problems appeared to be persistent.

Similarly, behavior problems also appear to be quite severe sequelae of cerebral malaria,

with an increased risk of disruptive behavior disorders in children two years post cerebral

malaria, both compared to children with a history of severe malarial anemia and children

with no history of malaria [22, 27].

Onset of these behavioral and neurological difficulties is often delayed, with a mean

onset of 111 days post malaria infection. Onset of ADHD symptoms appear to occur about

83 to 228 days after the recovery, with a mean of 150 days [22]. These results indicate that

cerebral malaria puts children at an increased risk of developing behavioral and neurolog-

ical difficulties in the months following infection, calling for increased follow-up care and

cognitive testing up to a year after recovery and subsequently, appropriate interventions

for the children and their families. Unfortunately, access to standardized mental health

assessment and empirically validated mental health treatments is limited for children in

sub-Saharan Africa and the children who do show deficits often do not receive any psychi-

atric or psychosocial help [22, 24].

In summary, cerebral malaria seems to place children at increased risk for the develop-

ment of persistent neurodevelopmental and behavioral problems which lead to impairments

in academic and social functioning. The course of these difficulties appears to develop over

time, indicating a need for prolonged follow-up assessment and care for at least two years

following cerebral malaria. More research in this area is called for and the development

of testing protocols and appropriate intervention strategies for children who have survived

cerebral malaria are sorely needed.

17.7

SUPPORTING THE PROJECT

Establishing a specialized not-for-profit pharmaceutical entity (developing and manu-

facturing age-appropriate formulations for 0 – 5 year old children) is a major undertaking.

There is little or no experience in Malawi in manufacturing drugs from raw materials.

Therefore, locally trained pharmacists have limited experience and due to lack of equip-

ment, they will need to get specialized training. The Rephaiah Projects goal is to get this

entity running and financially sustainable, while focusing on drug formulations for diseases

that impact the lives of young children and their families. Our needs:

1. Funding: (a) for the construction of the building; (b) to purchase equipment to har-

vest water from the air, for a well, solar cells, generator etc.; (c) to purchase opera-

tional equipment such as ventilation, a water purification system etc.; (d) to purchase

manufacturing equipment; (e) to purchase analytical equipment for quality control;

(f) to purchase raw material and packaging materials; (g) to purchase office equip-

ment etc.; (h) diverse starting expenses. As a not-for-profit entity, we deeply appre-

ciate support in this area.

2. Practical/technical training: Our goal is that the entity will be fully operated by

Malawians. Consequently, we need to train our future personnel in operating all the