Malaria and Basketball

In the states, the topic of malaria prevention doesn’t come up in conversation too often during a high school basketball game. Last night at the basketball game Lisa was chasing down Sterling with insect repellent shouting, “I am not going to have anyone in my family die of malaria!” Malaria is alive and well here in Nigeria, especially in the city of Jos where there is standing water everywhere (though we have started dry season and it will get better.) Every day we admit patients to the hospital with suspected malaria. The strain of malaria here is resistant to the basic malaria medications, so we are careful. Lisa dutifully puts out the mefloquine pills every Sunday for Emily, Camille, and me. She has a daily pill dispenser to make sure that she, Sterling, and Hannah are taking their daily doxycycline. Mefloquine often has side effects and was affecting their sleep. We all sleep under mosquito nets as well. All of these precautions are not full proof. Many of our friends have still gotten malaria despite taking precautions and taking prophylactic medications. We are thankful that none of us has gotten malaria so far.

Last night was the season opener for the Hillcrest High School varsity boys and girls basketball teams. You will notice that the court is outside. Hillcrest has one of the best courts in town. There is no indoor wooden court in Jos, a city of 600,000. High school basketball is a favorite source of entertainment for the ex-patriot community and quite the social event. Any game after 6:00 pm is a night game, since the sun always sets around 6:00 pm and rises around 6:00 am, because we are near the equator. Many people without children on the team come to watch the game. Pictured with us are our Lebonese friends, Muhammed and Zaina. Sterling and Hannah are in school with their boys and they recently had us over to their beautiful home where we had the best meal we have had so far in Nigeria—it was a feast.

The game was fun—we won 28-8. Since there are not many courts in town and since soccer is king in Nigeria, the ball-shooting skill of Nigerians is not that great. Nine of our points came from 3- pointers from the other American boy on the team. Sterling was in for almost half the game, which is an honor for a sophomore. He played great defense. He admits he was pretty nervous, so he did not score any shots. I am sure he will be more comfortable tonight when he plays again. Hannah will be playing her game tonight as well.

Michael Mitchell, MD