Malaria Essay

Malaria is a disease characterized by fever and flu like illness that according to the CDC “if not treated can lead to jaundice, kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death” (CDC p.2. There are four types of malaria: Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae with the most common type being plasmodium falciparum. (CDC p.1) ).. This disease can only be transmitted by an interaction of blood as the parasite lives in the red blood cells of the infected host individual. This can be due to blood transfusions, sharing of syringes or by its common vector, the Anopheles mosquito.Because of its vector being a mosquito malaria is common in areas with warm temperatures and causes the most damage in poor developing

The WHO Global Malaria Programme is responsible for evidence-based policy and strategy formulation, technical assistance, capacity building, malaria surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination of global efforts to fight malaria. WHO is also a co-founder and hosts the Roll Back Malaria partnership, which is the global framework to implement coordinated action against malaria (The World Health Organization Staff, 2010). The CDC participates actively in global malaria efforts through work with the WHO, Roll Back Malaria Partners, UNICEF, and more in the fight to keep the epidemic at bay (Global Health - Division of Parasitic Diseases , 2010).

Background - Malaria is a water borne disease. It is spread by a parasite-carrying mosquito. It kills many people and reduces a country 's capacity to develop. There are different strategies to combat malaria. Around half the population is at risk of malaria and this disease is active in 106 counties across Africa, Asian and the Americas (see source 3). the global annual mortality from malaria is between 1.5 - 3 million deaths, or between 4000 and 8000 each day. Developing countries are most vulnerable to Malaria and as shown on source 2 Malaria has been spread across many various other countries including in Europe, but these countries have eradicated Malaria.

Malaria is one of the most significant infectious disease burdens worldwide. The disease especially targets the most vulnerable groups, namely infants and children, and accounts for approximately 20% of childhood deaths in Africa. Many people living in countries where malaria is endemic are unable to afford, or do not have access to, medications needed for treatment, which contributes to high morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, malaria has a devastating economic impact, with gross domestic products decreasing up to 1.3% in highly affected countries. The World Health Organization concluded through their research that malaria is the fifth biggest killer in sub-Saharan Africa.

Moreover, when examining the intersection between the medical impacts of malaria on the human and the social consequences, a vicious cycle is revealed in which the body, the community, and the economy are all similarly impacted by the presence of malaria in a

Malaria has been a huge problem among many developing nations over the past century. The amount of people in the entire world that die from malaria each year is between 700,000 and 2.7 million. 75% of these deaths are African children (Med. Letter on CDC & FDA, 2001). 90% of the malaria cases in the world are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Once again, the majority of these deaths are of children (Randerson, 2002). The numbers speak for themselves. Malaria is a huge problem and needs to be dealt with immediately.

Ninety percent of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the location and region of where this issue affects. In a concentrated effort to treat malaria since 2000, 700 million cases have been stopped in Africa, bringing the number of cases down by almost fifty percent. This pleasant news is the result of human interaction. Since the introduction of bed nets, malaria death rates have dropped by sixty percent, saving six million lives. All this progress has to be credited to the scientists who got notified by their respective countries when deaths constantly occur in a certain area through communication. Shortly after getting notified, the researchers travel to sub-Saharan Africa, which requires movement, to analyze the situation

Malaria, on the other hand, is a disease caused by a parasite that spreads around from different vectors and hosts. There are three factors to the spread of malaria: the vector, the host and the pathogen. According

This happens to contain some of the most destitute regions of the world including Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa was home to 89% of malaria cases and 91% of malaria deaths. Increased prevention and control measures have led to a 60% reduction in malaria mortality rates globally since 2000.

Since 2013, the UK has a populations of 63,136 thousands, with a median age of 40 years. The number of births in the country is 770.3 thousands, while the number of deaths is 560 thousands. The at-birth life expectancy for both sexes is currently 81, while women appear to have a higher life expectancy than males. Despite the late life expectancy age, there are a number of diseases that greatly influence the UK’s health status.

Imagine walking into a foreign country in hopes to help eradicate malaria, but when you speak to the natives they talk about it as if it’s the common cold. From our western knowledge, you hear malaria and associate it with pain and suffering. For eastern cultures it’s a part of their daily reality that they’ve come to accept, but this is a major drawback in the eradication of malaria. This misconception due to lack of education and a democracy in underdeveloped countries harms global health efforts to eradicate malaria. There are four most common types of malaria, two that are survivable and one that is deadly. In undeveloped countries, it is seen that those who survive malaria are stronger or lucky, and those who die were weaker. This

In areas where malaria thrives, human populations have been known to suffer in its clutches. Malaria is a tropical disease that causes thousands of deaths worldwide. However, a majority of malaria cases and deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. The prevalence of malaria in African countries places a heavy burden on its people and affects all aspects of society. Considered both a consequence and a fundamental cause of poverty, malaria has a host of negative effects that hinder the growth and well-being of the African population.

I began the research because I had been interesting in studying malaria, how it is transmitted and since moving to the United States I have reviewed the literature on Malaria impact in Nigeria and other African nations. I also remember malaria being prevalent while I was growing up in Nigeria, but I didn’t view it as a problem then and my community did not push malaria awareness.

Malaria is an ancient disease. The name itself traces its origins to Medieval Italian: “mal aria” or bad air referred to a swampy area of Rome known as the Pontina that saw very high infection rates (Beltz, 2011). To this day, the disease continues to be one of the most important parasitic infections known to man. According to the World Health Organization, 3.4 million people may be considered at risk on a global scale and estimates indicate that there were 207 million cases in 2012 with 627,000 deaths (WHO, 2013). More than 85% of these cases occur on the continent of Africa as well as 90% of the deaths. In highly endemic regions, malaria is more of an issue of morbidity than mortality, although the majority of individuals may be parasitized at any given time only a minority exhibit severe symptoms (Marsh & Snow, 1997). Instead these countries are at a significant economic disadvantage due to ill workers, lack of tourism and company investments, not to mention the educational loss future generations also incur.

About 3.3 billion people, that is about half of the world’s population are at risk of contracting malaria (figure 1). Every year there are 250 million cases of malaria, and nearly 1 million deaths. That amounts to 2,732 deaths per day. Out of those million people that die every year, 800,000 of them are African children under the age of 5. To control malaria three actions need to be taken: insecticides need to be used to decrease the vector population, people have to be educated as to how to prevent the vector from reproducing, and anti-malarial drugs need to be distributed. To understand the vector and what the vector is, scientists had to first discover what the parasite was and how it worked. It was not until the year 1880 that French Physician Charles Laveran discovered that Malaria was caused by a protozoan in the genus Plasmodium (Malaria, 2013)