Laos: The Enemy at Home

The decision to make the long and hazardous 60-kilometer journey to Vientiane had been delayed for three days. Finally the father and mother realized that their 8-year-old son would not recover without help. They weren’t sure what he was suffering from, but it really didn’t matter. So many people in their village had the same symptoms and there were no medicines to help anyone. It took all day in the back of a truck and almost all the money they had saved to get to the general hospital in the capital. They were hopeful that now the doctors could help them. But it was too late. Their son died that night of cerebral malaria.

The war in Laos continues, but the battlefields have changed. The people of Laos are fighting a new war against sickness and hunger. Guns have been discarded for ploughs and medical kits. But the battle to wipe out disease and reclaim abandoned fields will be difficult.

Public health officials describe malaria as the “number one health problem” in Laos. Recent World Health Organization (WHO) surveys in two provinces of Laos indicate that one in three persons suffers from active malaria. Seventy-five percent of the cases are falciparum, the most difficult strain of malaria to treat.