From the field in East Sumba. Medical care, clean water, prevention and community health where access remains difficult.
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Health & Medical Program
Kawan Against Malaria
Year-round malaria prevention, parasite-based diagnosis, treatment support and vector control with families across remote East Sumba.
- Active across East Sumba since 2022
- Thousands of insecticide-treated nets distributed
- Hundreds of homes protected through IRS
Malaria control must continue after a campaign leaves
In remote East Sumba, exposure, fever and delayed access are part of daily life. Since 2022, Kawan Against Malaria has worked with families throughout the year: preventing bites, testing suspected cases, supporting appropriate treatment and recognising when a patient needs urgent referral.
The programme
A continuous malaria programme built around families
Malaria is preventable and curable, but the first symptoms can resemble many other infections. A patient needs observation, a parasite-based test and timely clinical decisions, not treatment based on fever alone.
Since 2022, Kawan Against Malaria has brought prevention and clinical action into remote villages. Kawan Sehat agents meet people at home, assess fever, support rapid testing, explain results, follow patients and refer danger signs. During community medical days, teams add broader clinical assessment, malaria screening, microscopy where available, medicines, prevention education and follow-up.
The programme also acts before anyone becomes ill. Thousands of insecticide-treated nets have been distributed, hundreds of homes have received indoor residual spraying, and families learn how to reduce exposure, recognise symptoms and seek testing early. The 2025 Umalulu study is one carefully documented part of this wider programme. It helps measure household risk and refine future action; it does not define the programme on its own.
Prevention, testing, treatment support, training, surveillance and referral continue throughout the year.
Repeated village actions combine net distribution with practical teaching on correct use, care, repair and replacement.
Indoor residual spraying is carried out as part of wider vector-control work by trained teams following safety protocols.
Kawan Sehat agents and community medical teams assess fever, support parasite-based diagnosis and follow patients in remote villages.
From suspected malaria to safer care
A fever must move through a reliable clinical pathway
Early action matters, but speed without diagnostic discipline can miss malaria, overlook another serious infection or expose a patient to the wrong medicine.
Recognise possible malaria
Fever, chills, headache, weakness and recent exposure are taken seriously, with particular caution for young children, pregnant women and people who are already fragile.
Confirm the parasite
A rapid diagnostic test or microscopy is used whenever available. Parasite-based diagnosis guides treatment and helps avoid treating every fever as malaria.
Assess severity
Consciousness, breathing, hydration, repeated vomiting, convulsions, jaundice, bleeding and the ability to drink help determine whether referral is urgent.
Treat or refer safely
Confirmed uncomplicated malaria follows approved national protocols through qualified services. Severe disease, uncertainty or unavailable treatment requires rapid referral.
Follow up and protect
Recovery, medicine completion and recurring fever are reviewed while the household receives practical support on nets, mosquito exposure and when to seek care again.
Fever is not a diagnosis
Local action must remain clinically safe
The programme brings prevention and diagnostic access closer to families while keeping clear limits. Severe malaria can progress rapidly, and other dangerous infections may begin with the same fever.
What the programme can do safely
- Document fever history, exposure, previous treatment and household risk
- Teach early symptoms, danger signs and when waiting is no longer safe
- Provide and demonstrate correct use and care of insecticidal mosquito nets
- Support rapid testing and microscopy through trained health personnel
- Carry out indoor residual spraying under controlled safety protocols
- Connect confirmed or worsening cases to treatment, referral and follow-up
When urgent referral is required
- Altered consciousness, repeated convulsions, collapse or extreme weakness
- Difficulty breathing, shock, severe pallor or suspected severe anaemia
- Inability to drink, persistent vomiting or signs of severe dehydration
- Jaundice, dark or bloody urine, abnormal bleeding or rapidly worsening illness
- Fever in a very young child, during pregnancy or in a highly vulnerable patient
- Any suspected malaria when testing, appropriate treatment or safe monitoring is unavailable
A diagnosis is not a device alone. It depends on correct sampling, slide preparation, reading, recording, clinical interpretation and a treatment pathway that the patient can actually reach.
The diagnostic and prevention chain
Every tool must lead to a safer decision
Rapid tests, microscopes, mosquito nets and sprayers only protect people when training, quality control, clear protocols, stock management and follow-up remain connected. Kawan Against Malaria builds that chain with local teams rather than delivering isolated equipment.
Household knowledge
Families learn how malaria is transmitted, how to use and repair nets, where mosquitoes breed and which symptoms require testing.
Parasite-based diagnosis
Rapid diagnostic tests support early decisions, while microscopy strengthens species identification, parasite detection and laboratory capacity.
Vector control
LLIN distribution and indoor residual spraying are documented, explained and adapted to the condition of each household.
Treatment and follow-up
Confirmed cases are connected to approved treatment and reviewed for deterioration, recurring fever, adherence and referral needs.
What changes in practice
Malaria control becomes local, measured and repeatable
Fewer fevers are treated blindly
Testing separates confirmed malaria from other causes of fever and directs patients towards more appropriate care.
Protection fits the household
Net condition, sleeping spaces, wall surfaces, behaviour and exposure are observed before prevention is planned.
Severe disease is recognised earlier
Families and local agents share a practical language for danger signs, urgent referral and the limits of home care.
Local data changes the next action
Household evidence, test results and field records guide training, supplies, vector control and follow-up instead of assumptions.
Complete field reportThe full Umalulu reportOpen the complete report, including household evidence, field observations and action priorities from the 2025 study.
Scientific reportIMRaD methods and resultsOpen the scientific version covering methodology, findings, discussion, limitations and public-health implications.
Field resultsEast Sumba prevention in practiceSee how education, LLINs, IRS, diagnostics and village partnerships were delivered and documented.
Diagnostic capacityMicroscopy training and validationFollow the practical work of preparing, reading and discussing malaria slides with local laboratory teams.
Live field recordField Notes from Eastern IndonesiaRead current observations from testing, prevention sessions, household work and the realities teams meet in remote villages.
Field guide & glossaryMalaria terms explainedOpen practical explanations of RDTs, microscopy, LLINs, IRS, parasites, referral and community surveillance.
Medical referenceWHO guidelines for malariaConsult the current evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis, treatment, prevention, vector control and surveillance.
Live from the field
Kawan Against Malaria Field Notes, as the work happens
Two recent field signals from testing, microscopy, household prevention, mosquito-net use or vector control. These notes refresh when a relevant Field Note is published.
Directly from the field
Latest Kawan Against Malaria reports
These reports follow the continuing programme: fever assessment, rapid tests, microscopy, treatment support, LLIN distribution, indoor residual spraying, education, referral and the limits teams meet in remote villages.
Sumba Malaria Prevention Program 2023
Discover how the East Sumba Malaria Prevention Initiative we are presently executing is combatting this destructive ailment. By implementing preventive measures like distributing mosquito nets treated with insecticides and raising awareness on eliminating mosquito breeding sites, this initiative strives to diminish the occurrence of malaria in…
Behavioral Impacts on Spread of Malaria
Community habits, prevention knowledge, living conditions and access to care all shape malaria risk in remote East Sumba villages.
Our aim is to take swift action against malaria
Malaria has a significant impact on Eastern Indonesia, specifically Sumba Timur, due to its remote and inaccessible locations, insufficient healthcare infrastructure, and limited preventative measures. Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria are both prevalent in these areas, with malaria transmission occurring year-round.
Beyond Borders, Fighting Malaria Together in Eastern Indonesia
Fair Future works with rural communities in East Sumba on malaria screening, treatment access, prevention and health education.
Malaria in East Sumba: All villages turned Red!
A mother seeks care for her young child with malaria in rural East Sumba, where distance and limited healthcare make treatment harder to reach.
Let’s prevent malaria rather than cure it!
Fair Future works with families in remote Kabanda on practical malaria prevention and health education where access to care is difficult.
Fighting Malaria in Eastern Indonesia
East Sumba, where we work at the time of writing this article, was experiencing a dramatic malaria epidemic. In the first quarter of 2023, there were more than 28,000 cases of Malaria, a significant increase from the previous year. A few months ago, Fair Future declared this life-threatening emergency.
Medical care for children affected by Malaria
A young child with a very high fever and suspected malaria receives initial care before referral to the nearest health centre in rural East Sumba.
List of drugs we need to buy
To make it simple and short, we urgently need a lot of medicines (see the list attached in the post) and sanitary equipment such as antiseptics, dressings and other small miscellaneous equipment. Indeed, friends, all our stocks are almost finished because we have prescribed or used everything, which is a good thing.
We need anti-malaria drugs!
Fair Future issues an intense red alert linked to the case of malaria, which is reaching a critical level here in East Sumba, Indonesia. For weeks, thousands of malaria cases have been recorded here in East Sumba. This figure is nevertheless to be taken conditionally because, in many villages, people do not have an identity card or a family book…
Malaria outbreak in East Sumba, Indonesia
Malaria is one of the most severe public health problems in the world. Here in Indonesia, and especially in the eastern regions, it is one of the leading causes of death and disease. Children under five years old and pregnant women are the most affected groups.
Help us load the medical truck
As part of the project for access to primary medical care for children in rural areas of eastern Indonesia, the foundation needs you to balance its budget. We want to be able to load our medical truck as much as possible in order to reduce logistics costs.
Accountability
Malaria control must remain measurable after the campaign leaves
We document households reached, tests performed, confirmed cases, nets distributed, surfaces sprayed, people trained, referrals made and gaps that remain. Kawan Against Malaria is not a one-day distribution. It is a continuing clinical and public-health process built with communities and local services.
