Helping to keep malaria at bay, Keith Moore is a ‘Special Person’

Nov 06, 2016 News

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 “Invariably people say I am too hard…you see there is a right way and a wrong way to do things and the right way doesn’t have a shortcut; the wrong way will always have shortcuts. I become a bit impatient and erratic when things are not done well, so I always strive to see things done the correct way.”

By Sharmain Grainger

November 6 was several years ago set aside to commemorate Malaria Day in the Americas.

The intent of this day is to promote awareness and recognise efforts that have been made and those that are still being made to reduce the prevalence of malaria – a mosquito-borne infectious disease.
Malaria is deemed by many heath sectors in the Americas, Guyana’s included, as perhaps the vilest of mosquito-transmitted diseases, since it has the potential of claiming an untold amount of lives if left unattended.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has long established that malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. But the early symptoms of the disease such as fever, headache, chills and vomiting could be mild, and therefore at times difficult to recognise, even by health workers trained to do so.
Based on information from the WHO, in 2015 there were 95 countries and territories that had ongoing malaria transmission, thus resulting in a situation whereby 3.2 billion people – almost half of the world’s population – were at risk of malaria.
If not treated within 24 hours, Plasmodium Falciparum or P. Falciparum, one of the known parasites that cause malaria in human beings, can progress to severe illness often leading to death.
But malaria is very preventable and curable, according to the WHO.
Moreover, the local health sector has not left this disease to roam rampant. In fact, measures are continually being derived to improve the malaria fight. But the number of cases being reported today by the Vector Control Services Unit of the Ministry of Public Health is still far too many.
However, Guyana will be well on its way to true success in the malaria fight when endemic areas – Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine, and to a lesser extent 10 – report no more than 30 cases per month.

This is the hope of someone who has been in the forefront of the malaria fight for many years – Mr. Keith Moore.
According to Moore, currently cases are reported in the thousands.
Although Moore was a mere young man with an unclear plan for his future when he first joined the Health Ministry’s malaria programme many years ago, today he is a septuagenarian with vast experience and immense hope that Guyana will one day be able to eradicate malaria altogether.
It is not at all surprising that because of his in-depth knowledge of combating the disease, the health sector is even today seeking after his expertise.
In fact it is for this very reason that Moore is being recognised as a ‘Special Person’ on an auspicious day set aside to recognise the gains made in the fight against malaria.

EARLY LIFE
But he had no idea life would have taken him down this path.
Keith Moore was born and raised in New Amsterdam, Berbice, to parents Paul Albert

Britton and Elsie Rita Moore on February 8, 1944. He was the eldest of three children and remembers vividly his mother being a nurse at the Berbice Hospital and his father a Police Sergeant, who was later elevated to the position of Deputy Commissioner.
His early schooling days were at the All Saints Anglican School, where he wrote the Government County Scholarship Examination and qualified for a place at the Berbice Educational Institute.
On completion of school, he embraced the idea of securing a Government job, but found that was near impossible since he hadn’t yet attained the then required age of 21.
Moore had to resort to a job as a checker on the Berbice wharf which his uncle, a Harbour Master at the Berbice Transport and Harbours Department, was able to secure for him. It was there he remained until about the age of 20 when he opted to travel to Linden for work. Moore recalled that in those days there were lots of jobs there.
But venturing to Linden was short-lived because of disturbances that started to occur. He remembered houses being torched and people being killed. In fact, the explosion of the Son Chapman (a river vessel that plied the Demerara River), a tragedy that claimed the lives of 43 people, will never escape his mind. Life in Linden simply wasn’t for him and so he headed back to Berbice.

MALARIA WORK

However, at the age of 21 he again dared to leave the serenity of the Ancient County and this time headed to the capital city of Georgetown to pursue employment. His options were the Guyana Police Force, Guyana Defence Force or Ministry of Health. He opted for the latter and with good reason too.
“I was thinking that the Army and Police had the regimentation of ‘move when they said move’ and I didn’t really want that, so I went to the Ministry of Health as a Field Assistant in the Malaria Programme,” Moore disclosed.
On the 20th day of August, 1965, Moore was among a batch of 20 that was recruited by the Health Ministry for its malaria programme. But he didn’t only learn about malaria, rather, he was taught all there was to know about general vector control. He even remembers working with the famous Malaria Specialist, Dr. George Giglioli, and recalled learning a great deal from Laboratory Technician, Andy Chang. He soon after found himself in the Malaria Laboratory at the Georgetown Hospital, where he and about six others were taught microscopic work by Miriam Farfan.

Farfan, a Trinidadian, was at the time the PAHO/WHO Microscopist trainer for the Southern Hemisphere. Moore’s group represented the third batch of local malaria workers to be so trained.
After one year of work in Georgetown he was sent to the interior, in the Rupununi to be exact, where he was able to save many people from death by malaria.
He was just in his early 20s, but soon recognised that he had found his forte.
But although he had a passion for the malaria work, in those days he also had to avail himself for other hospital work as well. He reminisced recently about working along with another Malaria Microscopist, Randolph Dookwah, to do filariasis, routine sputum tests, among others, but when there was a post mortem examination being done, they were expected to do manual recording for the pathologist.
Moore remained in the Rupununi for a number of years where he developed considerably as a professional and was aptly elevated. As such he was in the lead to help combat a major malaria outbreak at a location called ‘Morris Mines’, near the Brazilian border, back in the day. In fact it was on that occasion that he actually learnt how his malaria patients felt – he contracted malaria. His entire team of six was infiltrated by the disease.
It was in the line of duty, too, that he also became a victim of infected hepatitis and had to be airdashed to Georgetown for medical attention. He recalled it all happened one day when the vehicle he and his team were travelling in suffered a malfunction, thus leaving them stranded in an area where there were some abandoned homes. The team, according to Moore, was forced to drink water from a nearby creek. He soon after became violently ill and a few weeks later was clinging to life. He was hospitalised for several months at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
But even his hospitalisation did not damper his professionalism, so much so that he was discharged from hospital with a promotion. He became Chief Microscopist and was tasked with supervising laboratory work in Georgetown.
But according to Moore, “the work was boring.”
He yearned for the hands-on field work he had grown accustomed to over the years. And according to him, he still wanted to make use of his years of experience and vast local and international training to help keep malaria at bay.
Moore would do the unthinkable. He asked to be relieved of his promotion which bound him to the city. His request was approved and he was allowed to take up a field position in Mabaruma, Region One. This essentially saw him becoming the youngest Station Officer in the entire country, tasked with managing malaria work for the whole of Region One. He remained there perhaps the longest during his career, even building a home and starting a family.
The father of four – Michelle, Ian, Andrea and Thalia – would remain at that location until his retirement in the early 2000s. But even when it came time for his retirement, the Ministry had quite a task to replace him and thus asked that he hold on for one more year. He readily agreed.
He decided to move to Georgetown after his eventual retirement and was almost immediately snatched up by the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association to serve as their Operations Officer. He also worked as the Operations Officer at The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and then branched off into a field that was completely unrelated to health. He accepted a job with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as Deputy Registration Officer for Region One, because of his vast knowledge of that locale. In fact he held that position for at least two elections.
But since he was forced to be away from his wife, Myra, to undertake the work of GECOM, Moore said that he opted to sever ties with GECOM in order to be closer to family.

FIRST LOVE
But as fate would have it, his expertise in the health sector was again needed. He remembered being asked by a number of persons, including Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, to visit the local Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) office. Although reluctant at first, since he didn’t know why he was being sought, Moore eventually presented himself to PAHO and was offered a position as a Short Term Malaria Consultant with PAHO/WHO. His job entailed him coordinating all malaria activities throughout the regions. This he continued for about two years before being recruited by Global Fund to pretty much do the same thing, but with some additional perks.
This task was not always without challenges, but Moore said that he always strived to maintain professionalism in every aspect of his work. This, however, did not always allow him to find favour with all those he had to interact with professionally.
“Invariably people say I am too hard…you see there is a right way and a wrong way to do things and the right way doesn’t have a shortcut; the wrong way will always have shortcuts. I become a bit impatient and erratic when things are not done well, so I always strive to see things done the correct way,” Moore asserted.
He continued, “I am of the opinion that people’s lives depend on what you read on that microscope and you can’t say what you please…we have got to be correct. We have to get it right and get it right the first time. Getting it right is the only option!”
Moore noted that while the malaria programme has evolved over the years, the principle of getting things right remains intact. Although in the past malaria tests were done at a central location, he disclosed that because of constant training, which he has been a major part of over the years, this service has been decentralised.
“We took people from Georgetown and sent them to the Rupununi. We have developed a protocol where we train people in the regions, these are either Community Health Workers or Vector Control Staff and we monitor, evaluate, train and re-train them so that they get it right,” said Moore.
He related that while some Regions are still struggling to improve, Region Seven has been outstanding in its malaria work. “They comply to the fullest; other Regions are a bit complex…and this is sometimes because of geography, but Region Seven has been shining,” Moore proudly related.
Because of its adherence, Region Seven has been rewarded for being the most outstanding Region as part of the observance of Malaria Day of the Americas.
It was in fact rigid adherence that helped to propel Moore to the outstanding professional he is today.
And it is simply being a professional, he reflected, that could help even an uncertain youth to find his or her destined calling.
“This is a lovely profession, you can go far…but it isn’t glamorous, because you have to put yourself at risk sometimes to get the job done…but once you are trained, you will find that this is very interesting work. You just have to have the passion to work and you have to have the passion to save lives,” Moore emphasised.
He has been instrumental in helping to set up a number of programmes to reduce the cases of malaria. Even today he has the passion to continue to save lives. He recently completed an untainted malaria coordinating stint with Global Fund, and is already preparing to delve into yet another with the Ministry of Public Health to continue his malaria fighting crusade.
“I never realised I would be working to this age, but right now I can still go about even in the interior,” recounted Moore, as he jokingly intimated that “my wife tells me she fears that if I stop working I’ll die.”

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