Malaria: Websites and Audiovisuals

This web page lists material about malaria you can find on the world wide web for interested students (grades 8-12). Please note, some content can only be viewed after you have installed the appropriate multimedia software. For the multimedia content, you also need a fast Internet connection.

Resources:

For every source a short description tells you what to expect from it and a learning activity is suggested.

Mosquito and Parasite Game:

http://nobelprize.org/medicine/educational/malaria/index.html
Two Flash animations show how a mosquito serves as a vector for the malaria agent and how this agent affects your body.
Learning activity: Play the two games to understand the risk of catching malaria.

Interviews "Malaria"

http://www.gigers.com/matthias/engmala/intviewe.htm
Three interviews with people from Ghana about what they know about the disease.
Learning activity: Compare people's statements with actual scientific knowledge (see also malariafacts.org for this activity)

Malaria Foundation

http://www.malaria.org/whatismalaria.html
A Website about malaria covering a huge range of topics.
Learning activity: Study the life cycle of the malaria agent, and learn about different aspects of malaria. (Go for the WHO-TDR Website if this one is to complex for you.)

WebQuest: Dead Mosquitoes vs. Dead Children

http://www.geocities.com/malariacontrol/webquest/
This web quest offers information about the use of DDT in the fight against malaria from different points of view.
Learning activity: Evaluate the cost of using DDT in fighting malaria.

WHO - TDR: Malaria

http://www.who.int/tdr/diseases/malaria/default.htm
A Website about malaria covering basic understanding and research issues, also featuring an animated life cycle of the malaria agent.
Learning activity: Study the life cycle of the malaria agent, learn about different aspects of malaria. (Go for the Malaria Foundation Website or the Comprehensive Malaria Website if this one is to simple for you.)

Royal Perth Hospital: Malaria

http://www.rph.wa.gov.au/labs/haem/malaria/index.html
A Website covering basic understanding and medical treatment of malaria. In an on line test personal knowledge about the treatment of malaria can be checked on a professional level.
Learning activity: Learn about the life cycle of malaria and study its implications on human health from the perspective of a medical doctor.

Comprehensive Malaria Website

http://www.malariasite.com/index.htm
The Website of Dr. Kakkilaya covers the topic of malaria in great detail.
Learning activity: Learn how malaria can be prevented, how its agent spreads and how people can be treated. (Go for the WHO-TDR Website if this one is to complex for you.)

Malaria Map

http://k12education.uams.edu/scvlab/malariaMap.htm        
A map shows the frequency of malaria worldwide.
Learning activity: Name the countries which are affected by malaria.

UNICEF: Malaria

http://www.unicef.org/health/index_malaria1.html
A short film (70 seconds) and  an audio file (120 seconds) about malaria in addition to some written information about bed nets.
Learning activity: Watch or listen to the program and  write a transcript, read additional material and summarize it.

SwissInfo special: Malaria

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=670
A Web page with different multimedia content (5 audio and 3 video files), an animated life cycle of the malaria agent and several texts.
Learning activity: Listen to or watch the programs provided and draw a chart about different ways of fighting malaria. Afterwards relate those to the life cycle of the malaria agent.

BBC Radio 4: Malaria - Fever Road

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2005_01_fri_01.shtml
A radio program (time code: 34.33' - 42.07') about how people deal with malaria in Kenya from the perspective of a nurse.
Learning activity: Paraphrase the main statements of the program.

MalariaFacts.com

http://www.malariafacts.com/
A website about the dangers of malaria to American travelers presenting basic information and a short video (5').
Learning activity: Put a presentation together showing your classmates how to protect themselves from malaria (use materials from the website).

Uganda DISH (Delivery of Improved Services for Health)

http://www.ugandadish.org/child.shtml
The web page gives a few examples of how people in Uganda are made aware of the dangers and complications of malaria.
Learning activity: Using additional knowledge from other resources (see above), design you own campaign (posters, radio spots, slogans) to tell rural people in Uganda or another African country how to deal with malaria.

For additional resources see "Links Malaria".

Other Learning Activities:

For these activities you need to study one or more of the mentioned resources.

  1. Decide whether it is worth using DDT in fighting malaria and write a report.
  2. Critise the use of bed nets in fighting malaria from the viewpoint of  a rural farmer in sub saharan Africa.
  3. Modify existing malaria control programs in order to make them more acceptable and therefore more effective for a urban worker in India.
  4. Write a poem (examples) about the effects of malaria on children in the tropics. (If you want your poem to appear on this website, send it to mattgig@freesurf.ch.)
  5. Analyze the factors which contribute to the spreading of malaria and order them according to their importance.
  6. Draw a chart showing the death rate of young children (age: 0-5 years) as a percentage of the whole population for ten different countries.
  7. Demonstrate how the use of chemicals, bed nets and prophylaxis can bring down the cost of malaria.
  8. Report to the class how the malaria agent enters the human body and causes sickness.
  9. Summarize the life cycle of the malaria agent.
  10. Explain to tourists what kind of prophylaxis they should use against malaria.
  11. List the main symptoms of a malaria infection.
  12. Write a list of definitions explaining the special vocabulary you have encountered studying the websites about malaria.
  13. Test yourself with five questions about malaria.
Back to "Teaching about Malaria"
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Please send your questions, corrections and suggestions to mattgig@freesurf.ch.

Matthias Giger, Juli 2005 (Update: 08.08.2005)