Majok Tulba, an award-winning author and social entrepreneur, is running a Facebook fundraiser campaign in New Zealand
and Australia to raise funds for malaria medication for his village in South Sudan. He aims to establish sustainable
solutions that financially empower poor communities and make quality healthcare accessible to all.
With up to 200 youngsters a day dying and 2000 newborn deaths each year from the disease, the appeal has taken on a
personal journey for Majok, who “has shared a bed with mosquitoes and malaria.”
In recent days, a World Health Organisation report revealed a mortality surveillance in Bentiu camp in South Sudan
showed a higher death rate in 2020 compared to 2019. In another camp malaria cases had risen by 125 percent since late
June.
The report attributes cases of malaria to the flooding in the country occasioned by heavy rains. A WHO official in the
country, Dr Joseph Wamala, said the report revealed malaria had exceeded acute respiratory infections as the leading
cause of morbidity in the area.
Malaria is one of the top causes of illness and death in South Sudan with most cases and deaths occurring in children
and expectant mothers. The WHO estimates at least 1.3 million people fell ill with malaria in 2017.
Recounting when he was infected, Majok said: “In the night, I woke to what felt like lightning coursing through my head,
my legs, and spreading to my entire body. I felt the chill, the fever, and the aches. I could barely move. I thought I
wasn’t going to see another sunrise.”
Having survived, he is now throwing his weight behind the Konybai (“help the people” in Dinka language) malaria
medication project. Created to offer quality healthcare to families in South Sudan, appeal organisers want to build
community pharmacies and health programs, as well as funding mosquito nets and anti-malarial medications.
A single $5 donation can give someone the anti-inflammatory medication they need. For $10, you can give two children
antibiotics. For $100, you can give two children and their mothers a month’s worth of lifesaving medications.
Majok added: “Malaria kills so many people and leaves so many more too sick to function. It holds back the world’s
poorest from making the most of their lives.”
“With your support, hundreds of sick people will receive what they require to get better and help Konybai deliver on a
promise that better days and brighter horizons are ahead.”