Youth Empowerment Through Education and Sports (YETES), an organisation aimed at engaging and educating youth on a variety of health topics by using sport as a medium, is set to stage a Malaria Marathon race on Sunday, 24 April 2016.
The 5km and 10km marathon runs will take place a day before the World Malaria Day celebration.
According to the organisers, the race will start at Fajara and Kairaba Avenue Junction (Laybatou Junction) through Kotu Quarry and Manjai neighborhoods and terminates at the Serrekunda General Hospital.
“During the first 5k, stops will be made along the way where participants will have a chance to learn from a short malaria prevention lesson before continuing in the race,” added YETES officials in a statement.
About Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans (a group of single-celled microorganisms) belonging to the Plasmodium type. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases it can cause yellow skin, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. Those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria.
by Alieu Ceesay