I know a lot of people who are driven to do something. When we were in high school, for example, Paul Allen and I would get quite absorbed in software projects—including neglecting sleep and showers. But that pales in comparison to the determination of Dr. Damaris Matoke-Muhia, a leader in the fight against malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.我知道很多基于内心驱动而去做事的人。比如上高中时，我和保罗·艾伦非常专注于软件项目——会忘记睡觉和洗澡。但与抗击疟疾和其他蚊媒疾病的领军人物达马里斯·马图克·穆希亚博士的决心相比，这就有些相形见绌了。
Damaris grew up in Birongo, Kenya, a rural village in the country’s western highlands. She showed remarkable talent in math and science from an early age, but she experienced discrimination at school and in her community because of her gender. Even some extended family members couldn’t understand why the family would “waste” (as they put it) precious resources on Damaris’s school fees, given that most girls in her village got married early or dropped out before completing secondary school.达马里斯在肯尼亚西部高原上的一个名为比隆戈的乡村长大。她从小就在数学和科学方面表现出了非凡的天赋，但在学校和社区都遭受了性别歧视。甚至她的一些远房亲戚也无法理解，既然她所在的村子里大多数女孩都早早结婚或在中学毕业之前就辍学了，为什么家里还要将宝贵的资源“浪费”（用他们的话来说）在她的学费上。
Despite the social pressures, her father, who was a schoolteacher, was adamant that Damaris continue her studies. After Damaris graduated from secondary school, her father sold cows and a plot of land to pay for her tuition at the University of Mysore, in India. But he could afford to send her only $50 every three months for rent and living expenses. So five days a week, Damaris walked more than 15 miles to the university and back, and she barely ate enough to survive. “If I couldn’t eat a meal at a friend’s house, I would often go two days without eating,” she says. “But I refused to break, and I never missed a class.” She entered university weighing about 150 pounds, and when she finished her studies in India, she was down to only 90 pounds. Many neighbors assumed she had contracted HIV/AIDS. “They ridiculed my father. They said, ‘You spent all that money, and now she comes home to die.’”尽管面临着社会压力，她身为教师的父亲仍坚决让达马里斯继续学业。达马里斯中学毕业后，她的父亲卖掉了几头奶牛和一块地，以支付她在印度迈索尔大学的学费。但他只能每三个月寄给她50美元作为房租和生活费。因此，每周有五天，达马里斯要步行超过15英里往返于大学和宿舍，她也很少能够吃饱。“如果我不能在朋友家蹭一顿饭，我经常会连续两天不吃饭，”她说。“但我拒绝休息，我从未缺勤过一堂课。”她进入大学时的体重约为150磅，但当她完成在印度的学业时，体重下降到仅有90磅。许多邻居认为她感染了艾滋病。“他们嘲笑我父亲。他们说，‘你花了那么多钱，现在她却回家等死。’”
On top of deprivation, Damaris suffered a huge loss while she was studying in India. She was 23 and working on a master’s degree in biotechnology when her younger brother Abel, also a gifted science student, died of an especially dangerous form of malaria. Damaris couldn’t afford a ticket home for the funeral services.除了贫困，达马里斯在印度学习时还遭受了巨大的损失。她当时23岁，正在攻读生物技术硕士学位，她的弟弟阿贝尔（也是一位有天赋的理科生）死于一种特别危险的疟疾。达马里斯买不起回家参加葬礼的机票。
Abel’s death had a profound effect on Damaris’s life, giving her clarity on how she would use the education for which she and her parents had sacrificed. “For the first time, I knew my education was not a mistake or a waste,” she explains. “I knew I could play a role in eliminating malaria in my home country.”阿贝尔的死对达马里斯的生活产生了深远的影响，让她明确了如何利用她与父母付出巨大牺牲换来的教育机会。“人生中第一次，我知道我接受的教育不是错误或浪费，”她解释道。“我知道我可以为祖国根除疟疾出一份力。”
After returning to Kenya, Damaris took on an almost-impossible load again. While pursuing a doctorate in molecular medicine, she also worked full time as a research officer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) so she would have money to help put her seven surviving siblings—including three girls—through university. Thanks to her support, all seven earned undergraduate degrees, and two went on to complete post-graduate degrees as well.回到肯尼亚后，达马里斯再次承担了几乎不可能完成的任务。在攻读分子医学博士学位的同时，她还在肯尼亚医学研究所（KEMRI）担任全职研究人员，这样她就有钱供七个幸存的兄弟姐妹（包括三个女孩）念完大学。在她的支持下，七人全部获得了学士学位，其中两人还拿到了硕士学位。
Today, Dr. Damaris Matoke-Muhia is Principal Research Scientist at KEMRI and is manager for the Capacity Building, Gender Mainstreaming, and Career Progression program at the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association. In the field, she traps mosquitoes to study their behavior and learn how they develop insecticide resistance. In the lab, she is researching new techniques to counter this resistance and specific innovations to control malaria. In villages across Kenya, she surveys breeding sites, investigates the effectiveness of preventive tools, conducts health education for families, and screens for malaria infections. On the international level, she is helping women rise to leadership positions in the fight against malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.如今，达马里斯·马图克·穆希亚博士是肯尼亚医学研究所的首席研究科学家，也是泛非蚊虫控制协会能力建设、性别主流化和职业发展项目的经理。在野外，她诱捕蚊子以研究它们的行为，并了解它们如何对杀虫剂产生耐药性。在实验室里，她研究应对这种耐药性的新技术，以及控制疟疾的具体创新方法。在肯尼亚各地的村庄，她调查蚊虫的繁殖地，调查预防工具的有效性，为家庭开展健康教育，并进行疟疾感染筛查。在国际层面，她帮助女性，在抗击疟疾和其他蚊媒疾病的斗争中，走向领导地位。
达马里斯·马图克·穆希亚博士和她的同事在实验室工作，研究对抗蚊子和杀虫剂耐药性管理的新方法，以减少疟疾的传播，从而拯救生命。在肯尼亚内罗毕的肯尼亚医学研究所，达马里斯·马图克·穆希亚博士与她的同事鲁基亚·哈吉并肩而行。Her focus on women is not just a function of the gender discrimination she faces to this day. It’s also driven by the knowledge that the world has been trying to fight malaria with one hand tied behind its back.她对妇女的关注不仅仅源自于她一直以来面临的性别歧视，还由于她认识到：世界一直在努力抗击疟疾，但却忽视了女性在其中的力量。
Research demonstrates that men hold 75 percent of all leadership positions in global health—even though women perform 70 percent of all healthcare services worldwide and, perhaps even more important, hold the key to implementing effective malaria control measures at the household level. “Women are clearly in charge in the villages I travel to for field work,” Damaris says.研究表明，尽管女性承担了全球70%的医疗保健服务，男性却占据了全球健康领域75%的领导职位，也许更重要的是，女性是在家庭层面实施有效疟疾防控措施的关键。“在我开展实地考察的那些村庄里，显然是女性说了算，”达马里斯说。
This is why our foundation is supporting Damaris’s work to open the doors to women in community-level initiatives and senior positions in international health organizations. As Damaris says, “If we’re serious about malaria elimination in Africa, women must help develop, design, deliver, and implement strategies that take account of the reality that women are in charge of ensuring things go well at the household level.”这就是为什么我们的基金会支持达马里斯的工作，欢迎女性参与社区一级的行动并应聘国际卫生组织的高级职位。正如达马里斯所说，“如果我们认真对待在非洲根除疟疾的问题，妇女必须帮助制定、设计、传达和实施战略，这是考虑到妇女负责确保家庭层面的工作顺利进行这一现实。"
Damaris and her colleagues have researched the major obstacles that make it hard for women to take top leadership roles, and now they’re addressing each one. For example, they are providing leadership training to women in science, helping rising leaders find mentors, and advocating for workplace policies that support women.达马里斯和她的同事们研究了导致女性难以担任高层领导角色的主要障碍，现在他们正在逐一解决。例如，他们正在为科学领域的女性提供领导力培训，帮助潜在的领导者寻找导师，并倡导制定支持女性的职场政策。
Damaris offers multiple reasons for optimism. For example, she will soon be able to use her networks of women leaders to help deploy RTS,S—the world’s first malaria vaccine. Other effective control measures include improved insecticide-treated bed nets and attractive targeted sugar baits. In combination, these new tools will prevent tens of thousands of children from getting malaria each year. They will also help free mothers to focus on things other than taking care of family members suffering with malaria—giving a big boost to their productivity at home and in the workplace.达马里斯给出了很多前景乐观的理由。例如，她很快就能利用她的女性领袖网络来帮助部署RTS,S——世界上第一种疟疾疫苗。其他有效的控制措施包括改进了的药浸蚊帐和有针对性的诱杀糖饵。这些新工具结合在一起，每年将避免数以万计的儿童感染疟疾。它们还将帮助母亲们从照顾患有疟疾的家人中腾出手来，从而专注于其他事情——这将大大提升她们在家庭和职场中的生产力。
Her greatest source of optimism is her own children. In addition to having a 10-month-old son, she and her husband have two daughters, ages 13 and 10, who are outstanding science students and want to pursue health as a career. Their older daughter, Amirah, wants to be a neonatologist. Their younger daughter, Anabel, wants to be a veterinarian. Thanks to their parents and their community of friends in Nairobi, neither girl sees any reason to limit her dreams.她乐观的最大源泉是自己的孩子。除了一个10个月大的儿子，她和丈夫还育有两个女儿，分别为13岁和10岁，她们都是优秀的理科生，未来也希望从事卫生事业。他们的大女儿阿米拉想成为一名新生儿科医生。小女儿安娜贝尔想成为一名兽医。在父母和内罗毕的朋友们的影响之下，两个女孩都认为没有任何理由能限制自己的梦想。