Jessica Uno, Stanford University

World Briefing

Novartis and Malaria No More

World Briefing Tweet:

We have the knowledge & strategies to fight malaria; now we need the compassion, determination, & awareness to eradicate it once & for all.

Personal Statement:

I was first inspired to become a malaria awareness activist while researching malaria and other neglected diseases for four summers at UCSF's Sandler Center for Basic Research in Parasitic Disease. While research is essential to treating malaria, I felt distant from the realities of those actually suffering malaria, so I became a pioneering member of Initiative Against Malaria (IAM), Stanford's first malaria awareness group. IAM expanded my experience with malaria to include policy and education. IAM gave a human face to the epidemic by introducing me to students in my community who had personally suffered from malaria. I felt more connected to malaria but was shocked to learn how little malaria awareness existed at Stanford. IAM highlighted a vital question: Why should Americans care about malaria afflicting developing nations?

In reality, malaria is not restricted to distant communities, but involves our community as well. Whether it's extinguishing lives or guiding us towards eradicating parasites and poverty, malaria affects us all. Firstly, malaria research can lead to global health breakthroughs. Strategies for exterminating malaria in diverse settings contribute to fighting similar diseases. For example, mosquitoes spread debilitating diseases besides malaria, like dengue, that plague developing and wealthy nations alike. Controlling mosquito populations reduces the impact of other global epidemics. Additionally, examining the connections between malaria and poverty provides valuable insight into tackling social issues in the United States and abroad. Neglected diseases perpetuate poverty by burdening poor families with consequences like healthcare expenses and lowered productivity. Personally, my motivation for eradicating malaria is my conviction that every human life is valuable. We have the knowledge to halt malaria, now we need the global willpower. America is a diverse, international community, so our compassion for local communities should be reflected globally.

Medical anthropology, my major of study, encourages students to make global issues personal by spending time with people struggling through those issues. I'd love to visit Kenya to report on the realities of malaria from an anthropological perspective by conversing with malaria victims, their families, and their doctors. Meeting malaria victims at Stanford was eye-opening, but traveling to the heart of the malaria disaster would truly expose its urgency. Sharing those experiences with international audiences through electronic and written mediums would teach me better tactics for presenting malaria as a compelling issue to privileged communities. Upon my return, I will continue hosting campus-wide awareness events as part of IAM's executive board and will design a Stanford student-initiated course to teach my peers how they can fight malaria through both natural and social sciences. To promote awareness in the social science community, I will spend the next two years working with malaria researchers and victims to write and publish my honors thesis on anthropology's applications in global health. Eventually, I plan on becoming an infectious disease physician, combining my scientific, anthropological, and humanitarian interests to devote my life to eliminating neglected diseases. To echo John Donne, no parasite is an island; we owe it to our fellow human beings to eradicate malaria.