REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS SG - IDAYDRC, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo and already more than 52.000 children benefit from this programme. Outside financing needed: 2 500

IDAY’S HONORARY COMMITTEE Hauwa Ibrahim (Sakharov Prize 2005) Baaba Maal (Ambassador UNDP - Senegal) Luisa Morgantini (Vice-President of the European Parliament 2007/2009) Dr Denis Mukwege (Sakharov Prize 2014, King Baudouin Prize 2011, Director of Panzi Hospital) Mampe Ntsedi (Nelson Mandela Children Center) - Ousmane Sy (King Baudouin Prize 2005 and founder of CEPIA) – Professor Pamela Weathers, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

IDAY International Day of the African Child and Youth IDAY-International aisbl - Rue des Jambes 19 - 1420 Braine-l’Alleud - Belgium - T. +32 (0)2 385 44 13 - F. +32 (0)2 385 44 12

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Raising voices for education in Africa Porte-voix pour l’éducation en Afrique

REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS Education and Health School Gardens and Kitchens

DESCRIPTION For several years, IDAY has integrated health into its education programmes. In tropical areas, the many serious infectious diseases are responsible of absenteeism and loss of cognitive abilities of the pupils considered as an important cause of school failure. Indeed, as the latest report1 published by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) shows, health is an important lever for education: (i) health interventions for vulnerable children lead to an additional 2.5 years of schooling; (ii) deworming and malaria prevention at school can improve school results by 25% and 62% respectively; and (iii) school feeding besides reducing the prevalence of anemia by 20% among girls, increases the enrollment by 9% and the duration of schooling by 8%.

1 https://www.globalpartnership.org/multimedia/infographic/how-improve-health-and-learning-school-age-children

These data reinforce the action of IDAY members who since 2009 have been setting up school gardens and kitchens, including plants with high nutritional value for the preparation of meals and medicinal plants, of which Artemisia annua. This plant, from China, has been used for more than 2.000 years against malaria and other tropical infectious diseases including intestinal worms in Asia. Artemisia annua is a useful complement to drugs and mosquito nets promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) especially for vulnerable populations who do not have access to these expensive means. School kitchens are equipped with energy-saving stoves, which reduce the amount of wood needed to make meals, prevent deforestation and reduce CO2 emissions as well as costs.




ACTIVITIES SCHOOL GARDENS AND KITCHENS The improvement of school results and the dramatic reduction in health expenditure in more than 50 Kenyan schools following the planting of Artemisia annua in school gardens since 2011 have prompted several IDAY members to propose similar projects by adding other components according to local needs: plants with high nutritional value, irrigation, school canteen, youth exchanges. By the end of 2016, 10 coalitions had proposed 21 projects to improve the education of 230.000 pupils and their teachers in 399 schools for a total cost of € 1.041.000, including € 660.000 of external funding sought. The costs per project vary between € 4.000 and € 137.000 over a period of 1 to 6 years. Currently, school gardens with one or more components are being implemented in Benin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo and already more than 52.000 children benefit from this programme.

Outside financing needed: 2 500 €/school garden and kitchen

YOUTH EXCHANGES The growing of Artemisia annua is delicate so young Africans who have gained experience with this plant have offered to make themselves available to IDAY to teach their colleagues from other countries the subtleties of the culture of the plant and the treatment for its medical use. In addition, IDAY has started a programme called "DUO for a Change" to connect schools in Europe (Belgium) and Africa. The idea is to put in DUO the Belgian youth and the African youth in order to strengthen their identity of citizen of the world and their spirit of solidarity, and this, from a perspective of sustainable development. IDAY is currently running a pilot phase in 13 DUOs for the 2017/2018 academic year and is seeking funds and partners to improve and expand the programme for next year. Costs: 3.500€/DUO

Senegal: +4 schools + 1 pilot centre

Benin: 7 schools +12 schools + 1 pilot centre

Burkina-Faso: 17 schools +10 schools

Ivory Coast: 2 schools +10 schools

Ghana: +10 schools

Togo: 3 schools + 84 schools

Cameroon: 1 school + 48 schools

DRC-Kinshasa: 4 schools + 31 schools

Rwanda: 2 schools

Burundi : 5 schools + 5 schools

Kenya : 50 schools + 6 schools (Massaï)

DRC-Kivu : 2 schools + 4 schools

Tanzania Nyarugusu (refugee camp) : + 16 schools

Tanzania Massaï : + 4 schools

Tanzania Zanzibar : + 1 school

Tanzania Kigoma : + 9 schools

Uganda : 7 schools + 24 schools

Key :100 ongoing school gardens+ 280 school gardens waiting for financing+ 2 pilot centres

Guinea: +2 schools




ARTEMISIA ANNUA IN THE FIGHT AGAINST MALARIA In addition to the training of young people in the growing of the plant within school gardens and exchanges of good practices between them, 3 parallel actions are necessary.

PICTURE After having succeeded in halving the incidence of malaria in the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledges in its latest report on malaria an increase (+10%) of the number of registered cases particularly in Africa. Its current strategy based on Artemisinin-Combination Therapy (ACT), impregnated bed-nets and early diagnosis, is very expensive and its continuation depends on increasing the amounts of foreign aid far beyond what is available and reasonable. WHO considers that USD 7,5 billion are needed per year to free the world of malaria while only USD 2,7 billion are available. In addition, resistances to insecticides and ACTs are extending beyond Asia to Africa. Clearly, the current strategy has reached its limits and several African authorities recognise that at this pace, the United Nations’ Goals of Sustainable Development against malaria (in particular SDD N° 3.1) will not be reached by 2030.

ARTEMISIA Artemisia annua is a medicinal plant derived from the Chinese pharmacopoeia and used for more than 2.000 years in Asia to treat malaria and as a well-being plant. In 2010, an IDAY-Kenya agent identified in the Kenyatta University gardens a cultivar adapted to the African climate and not sensitive to photoperiodism. Its dissemination and use have been spectacular since the tests conducted by Professor Guy Mergeai of the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Liege, especially in Senegal. Artemisia annua is the basis of the current medicines Artemsinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT): the molecule artemisinin, which has been proven effective against malaria, is extracted from it. The plant is clearly a polytherapy. The famous US researcher, Professor Pamela Weathers of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, cites about 10 ingredients of the plant that could be effective against malaria. Pierre Lutgen, PhD in Chemistry in Luxemburg, estimates they can be at least 20 which would explain the extensive spectrum of diseases treated by the plant. Artemisia annua contains anti-oxidants, essential oils, flavonoids, zinc, all known to be effective against infections. Artemisia annua is of the Asteracea family that contains several species known for their medicinal effects. Artemisia afra, a native species to Africa, is also effective against malaria and does not contain artemisinin.

SURVEYS ON USE AND GROWING OF ARTEMISIA ANNUA A first investigation on the prophylactic effects of Artemisia annua against malaria in schools using it in their school gardens will be conducted mainly in Kenya but also in the other member countries of the IDAY network. The prevalence of malaria in these schools will be compared to that of an equivalent number of schools without the plant. Cost: 35 000 € Based on the results obtained, a second survey would aim to question Artemisia users, practitioners and growers as well as the authorities about their level of knowledge of the plant, their use (preventive and / or curative) and the results in 13 African countries members of the IDAY network. This mapping will highlight how much the plant is already grown and consumed in Africa. Cost: 175 000€




INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE KENYATTA UNIVERSITY Many studies exist mainly on the use of the plant in a curative way but no study of international level and in conformity with the criteria of WHO (double-blind comparative tests) does cover the preventive use of the plant (prophylaxis) yet important because of the uncertainties of the effectiveness of vaccines. Herbal medicine is subject to the same obligations as when placing on the market a new pharmaceutical treatment. Kenyatta University (Nairobi) and IDAY therefore propose to conduct such clinical trials in Kenya with the support of various international experts. The clinical trials will be conducted in 3 parts: (1) a pilot test of the preventive effect of Artemisia annua tea on 300 students in 6 schools in accordance with the strict WHO standards for the treatment of life-threatening diseases; (2) the analysis of the repellent effect of the plant compared to the absence of mosquito nets in prisons (generally without mosquito nets); (3) based on the results of (1) and (2), combined treatments of the repellent and preventive effects of tea compared to the results of separate effects. According to these results, natural extracts of the plant could be tested on pregnant women and new-borns who are today poorly protected by drugs with dangerous side effects for populations at risk. At this stage, only parts (1) and (2) are considered. Cost: 900.000 €

COLLOQUIUM AND QUESTIONING OF WHO Minister of Health of Burkina Faso proposed to organize a colloquium that will bring together representatives of WHO, Ministers of Health of Africa, researchers and practitioners of Artemisia. The aim is to have WHO enact the conditions under which Artemisia annua can be integrated into official malaria programmes in Africa. Cost: 100 000€, of which 20 000€ covered by the government of Burkina-Faso Artemisia annua scientific file is available upon request at [email protected]

Documents

REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS SG - IDAYDRC, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo and already more than 52.000 children benefit from this programme. Outside financing needed: 2 500