The Fight Against Malaria, West Africa

Malaria has been in existence for thousands of years. Many historical records show that it has affected human civilization greatly by plaguing and causing mass death. The earliest record can be traced back to 2700 BC in China (Cox, 2002). It has been long associated with swamps and insects for hundreds of years but often believed to be the air from swamps causing the plague. The term malaria rooted from two Italian words ‘mala’ and ‘aria’ which literally means bad air. Humanity did not know the true nature of the long thought disease until 1894 when a Scottish physician, Sir Ronald Ross, discovered that it was actually the parasite in mosquito that is causing the malaria.

Many animals kill countless numbers of humans every second, minutes, and hours. The mosquito is among those predators, and it causes the most morbidity and mortality among humans compared to any other animal or insect. Mosquitoes are notoriously known for causing malaria worldwide. Malaria is a disabling illness which can result in mobility and mortality. People infected with the disease become weak over a period of time. This reduces their productivity level; thus it makes simple activities of daily living difficulty to accomplish. Some of the common symptoms of malaria resemble those of the flu. Malaria is an extreme health burden in low and middle income countries especially African countries. Moreover, the disease is mostly prevalent in sub-Saharan African countries, among pregnant women and children age 5 and younger. Over the years, scientists have discovered and developed several methods to control the spread of malaria. One of the most controversial control methods for malaria is DDT. DDT is short for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane; this method come in the form of a pesticide or insecticide. It is used to kill pest and insects specifically mosquitoes. “DDT is used in indoor spraying for control of vectors of malaria and visceral leishmaniasis” (Van den Berg, 2009). Scientists have realized that the pesticide could be effective at preventive malaria by reducing the amount of mosquitoes in the environment. Despite this, concerns about the effectiveness and safety of

The world as a whole should be mortified by what is happening in Sub-Saharan Africa. In places like Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho poverty, crime and systematic corruption are the tinder for the fire that is the HIV epidemic in Africa.

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.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the swine flu in the U.S., or the botulism outbreak in Ohio. What did they all have in common? They were all dealt with by epidemiologists. Now what is an epidemiologist? An epidemiologist, in briefest terms, is a person in the health profession who studies the causes and patterns of disease in humans, with the intent of reducing risks of “negative health outcomes” usually by way of research and implementation of health policy (“Epidemiologists” U.S. Bureau). Most epidemiologists are heavily involved in lab work. They analyze data and send it to health practitioners and the public. They often work for state governments where they address public health issues or abroad investigating diseases

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.

In addition to waterborne disease prevalence, malaria would also pose as high risk in Togo. Africa already accounts for 90% of malaria cases. Therefore, with extreme weather events resulting from climate change, this risk is heightened (Tatlock, 2006). According to the UN, “water stress plays an indirect role in curing malaria because it impedes the human recovery process” (Tatlock, 2006). Not only does malaria thrive during water scarcity, but the disease also flourishes in high temperatures and increased moisture, too. Thus, the change in climate would spike the incidence of malaria in Togo.

Venezuela is known for its gold mining activities that take place there. These mines are the breeding sites for mosquitoes. The rate of malaria here is very high but they try to fight it. It was the first nation to be certified by the WHO for eradicating malaria in its most populated areas. The malaria is spread to the society once the miners come back home. Sometimes the number of victims rises up to a point where they take all malaria medicine all (Rodriguez, 2014). By 1994, the malaria deaths had fallen by 9%. As days are going by, there are some changes in the handling of the malaria issue. Though there is a lot going in Venezuela, there is shortage of nearly all anti-malaria drugs. The government of Venezuela should ensure that neighbors are not attacked.

. Planning model is a broad model that walks one through the process of developing a complete public health program. The planning model gives structure and organization to the planning process. The planning models are essential for facilitating the development, implementation, and evaluation of any health program. To use PRECEDE-PROCEED as an example for planning model, does not attempt to predict or explain the relationship among factors thought to be associated with an outcome of interest (Gielen and Mcdonald, 2003). However, it does provide a structure for applying theories so that the most appropriate intervention strategies can be identified (Gielen and Mcdonald, 2003). The other models and frameworks focus more on the individual targets

In Madagascar, Malaria has been a major concern due to its steady impact on child mortality. This public health disease has rendered low economic country being trapped in poverty. When the resident lack access to basic healthcare, treatment are often delayed that leads to a severe consequence. Without aggressive involvement in tackling the problem, malaria continues to plague Madagascar for the last 30 years. In a cross-sectional study conducted by Meeker and Yukich (2016) explored the association of household having a bed net and child mortality rate in Madagascar. Every year, it costs the Madagascar government about $52 million dollars on prevention efforts. The most preferred strategy in Malaria prevention was distributing the long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, also known as LLIN. The distribution of LLIN did decreased child mortality rate by 22% in the last 10 years.

Tu Youyou was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China on 30th December 1930. (Rogers 2016). According to Nobelprize.org (2016), She is married and blessed with two daughters. None of her parents were into medicine but they recognised the value of education and fully supported her. She schooled at Peking University School of Medicine from 1952 till 1955 in the department of Pharmaceutical Science (Edubilla.com 2015). According to her autobiography, she had tuberculosis when she was 16 years which made her stop schooling for close to two years. This event influenced her to want to become a medical researcher. After she finished from Peking in 1955, she was delegated to work in the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica of the newly established Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine under the China Ministry of Health (Youyou 2016). She is no a chief scientist at China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. (Nobelprize.org 2016).

I believe that trying to eliminate mosquitoes will not prevent malaria outbreaks. If malaria is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium (CDC, 2011) and is only present in the female population, then wiping out female mosquitoes means no procreation. As learned in previous units; disrupting the ecological cycle can cause greater damage than for the greater good. Mosquitoes are apart of the the food chain; they give other organisms, such as aquatic animals that prey on the mosquito larvae, a food source. The most common predator is the Gambusia affinis (Karen, 2015). If we were to get rid of mosquitoes, then we’d be cutting off food supplies for other aquatic species. Any change to an ecosystem can drastically affect the cycle of life in a given area. Consequences can lead to (in worst case scenario) extinction of necessary organisms that are help not only the other organisms around it, but the environment as well.

Effective malaria treatment is fraught with challenges. Resistance is seemingly around the corner for every previously superlative drug, while being deeply entrenched among those medications that a few decades ago were vital to chemotherapy. For artemisinin, the first signs of resistance were observed in a 2008 study of parasite clearance times following monotherapy with artesunate. Clearance was slower among patients from the Eastern Thai-Cambodian border than that of patients from the Thai-Myanmar border to the West (Dondorp et al., 2009). Though an alarming fact on its own, when coupled with the proportional increase of such slow-clearing infections from 0.6% in 2001 to 20% in 2010 with rates approaching 42% in Cambodia one must conclude that there is cause for alarm (Flannery et al., 2013). Resistance is not only emerging but also spreading.

Over the 2 decades, dismalness and mortality from malaria have been expanding because of deteriorating health systems, growing drug and insecticide resistance, occasional changes in climate designs, civil unrest, human migration and population displacement (WHO & UNICEF, 2003).Malaria is brought about by the plasmodium parasite. The parasite are frequently unfurl to people through the bites of infected anopheles mosquitoes. Nigeria which is Africa most crowded nation, represent one fourth of all Malaria cases in Africa which make it the nation most crucial general wellbeing issue. Malaria has a high prevalence in Nigeria with approximately 97% of the populace at danger, it is the main source of maternal mortality and one among the primary reasons for neonatal deaths (Breman et al, 2001; WHO and UNICEF, 2003). Nigeria has a reasonable atmosphere for malaria transmission all through the nation. The weight of malaria infection varies wide in line with region, season, environment and socioeconomic status of people. The burden of malaria in Koton Karfe watershed catchment in Kogi state Nigeria, like any other part of sub-Saharan Africa has been a noteworthy open concern. The effect management of this major killer of children and adults requires the comprehension of various variables that affirm its risk. This study evaluated the ebb and flow circumstance of malaria risk in koton karfe bay, and the consequence of the locale on malaria with accentuation on the watershed as source

Malaria is an important public health disease endemic in over a hundred countries globally. About 90% of malaria deaths occur in Africa with a child dying every forty five seconds. Malaria accounts for 16% of child deaths in the Africa (Remme, Binka & Nabarro 2001) and 7% of deaths in children worldwide (WHO 2010). It is a disease of poverty, causing significant constraint to the economic growth of susceptible nations (WHO 2010; Sachs, Malaney 2002). Globally, numerous malaria control programmes have been initiated to eliminate and eradicate the disease. In this context, eradication refers to a reduction in the global incidence of malaria to zero, such that its does not require any further control interventions. Elimination refers to a