Gloria W., 23

Gloria is a 23-year-old expectant mother experiencing significant complications during her first pregnancy. She is a peasant farmer who dropped out of school in Form Two and has limited financial resources. Despite these hardships, she remains hopeful and dreams of building a more stable life and providing a better future for her family. At 24 weeks of pregnancy, Gloria became seriously unwell and presented to the hospital as a self-referral from home with severe epigastric pain and general body weakness. Following assessment, she was diagnosed with malaria in pregnancy and commenced on treatment. Malaria at this stage of pregnancy can significantly affect both the mother and her unborn baby. Gloria requires close monitoring because deterioration may lead to severe maternal illness, including anaemia and other complications. Her unborn baby is also at risk of impaired growth, preterm delivery, low birth weight and, in severe cases, fetal loss. Continued treatment and careful maternal and fetal monitoring are therefore essential.

Gloria has been diagnosed with severe malaria in pregnancy at 24 weeks’ gestation which is a potentially life-threatening form of malaria in a woman in her second trimester, and this may lead to severe anaemia, altered consciousness, respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia, jaundice, shock, kidney injury or high parasite burden. Pregnancy increases vulnerability to severe disease. It is an obstetric and medical emergency because it can rapidly compromise the mother and reduce oxygen and nutrient delivery to the developing fetus. Treatment has begun, and prognosis is good