Climate and Health

Climate and Health in Africa

After the students investigated their initial impressions of Africa's climate, we were ready to move on to how Africa's climate influences the health of its people. We specifically talked about how the warm, moist areas of Africa help mosquitoes and the tsetse fly grow and thrive, which consequently aids in the spread of illnesses like Malaria and Sleeping Sickness. 

We watched a few short videos about the symptoms and treatment of Malaria and Sleeping Sickness and read about how researchers are trying to stop the spread of both illnesses. 

Once the students became experts, I asked them to imagine that they were the doctor in a small African village trying to raise awareness about one of the two illnesses. They created posters to  put up at their local village clinic to inform their neighbors about Malaria or Sleeping Sickness. 

Here are the posters:

I love Maggie's pink mosquito!

Our makeshift "African clinic" with posters.

Aida's poster does a fantastic job of outlining the symptoms of Sleeping Sickness.

A mosquito :)