14 year-old Maryam; inspired by her own condition to protect the eldery from COVID-19
COVID-19 response and young people
Fourteen year old Maryam Latif is the youngest of the top ten finalists in the UNICEF Malawi COVID-19 Youth Challenge. She has just finished Form 3 at Lilongwe Private School. Maryam says like for most people her age, being stuck at home during COVID-19 has been boring. But lately she has learnt to cook and bake to pass the time.
Maryam is asplenic. She has no functional spleen and is therefore more prone to infection than the average person. Maryam must be extra careful to prevent any kind of infection. She gets more than the regular dose of certain vaccines to prevent infections.
“I get the pneumococcal vaccine every five years. It’s a very powerful vaccine. I also get the flu vaccine every year and I have to be careful not to get malaria so that means mosquito repellent every time I go out but other than that my life is normal.”
Her asplenia inspired Maryam to think about how to keep the elderly safe, after she heard they are more likely to get COVID-19 than the rest of the population. She designed an app that would enable them to stay at home while still accessing the basic supplies and services that they need.
“Young people can sign up to this app so every time someone needs a service like grocery shopping, pharmacy or restaurant the cost is charged to their subscription and the registered young people complete the tasks so that the elderly stay at home, safe from COVID-19. At the end of the month those who complete the requested tasks are paid based on the number of tasks they completed,” explains Maryam.
