| MALARIA |
The Curse of Malaria
What is malaria?
Malaria is the worlds most wide-spread and life-threatening disease. It affects:
- 40% of the world's population with over
- 300 million cases per annum – that’s nearly
- 5 times more than the worldwide caseload of the other major infectious diseases;
HIV/AIDS, TB Measles Leprosy COMBINED!
|
| However the awareness and impact of malaria in the developed world is significantly less than diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Perhaps it is because malaria is only prevalent geographically in the poorest regions of the world and thus affects the poorest of the poor. It is amongst these most vulnerable communities that The MENTOR Initiative directs its humanitarian activities. |
Click map for larger image |
The female Anopheles mosquito is the sole vector of the malaria parasite called Plasmodium. There are four types of human malaria:
- 1. Plasmodium vivax
- 2. Plasmodium malariae
- 3. Plasmodium ovale
- 4. Plasmodium falciparum
|
| P. falciparum is the most deadly type of malaria infection and it is no coincidence that this is the most common type of malaria in the African sub-Saharan region, which in large part accounts for the extremely high mortality rates. |
 |
| |
| Who gets malaria? |
| World Population |
6,000,000,000 |
Six billion |
| 40% of the worlds population is under threat from malaria |
2,500,000,000 |
Two and a half billion |
| Of those under threat: |
|
|
| 20% are children under five |
500,000,000 |
Five hundred million |
| 5% are pregnant women |
125,000,000 |
One hundred and twenty five million |
| The worldwide target “at risk” group |
625,000,000 |
Six hundred and twenty five million |
| Entire communities living in epidemic prone areas |
52 – 145,000,000 |
Between fifty two and one hundred and forty five million |
|
| |
| The greatest proportion of deaths and suffering in populations affected countries occurs amongst those living in the most remote rural areas where health infrastructure is weakest or even non-existent. As a result, those affected by man-made and natural crises are least able to tackle the disease. A vicious circle continues to spiral out of control. In the belt affected by malaria, in regions of civil unrest, or natural crises, epidemic outbreaks of malaria are not uncommon. Transmission rates can soar as Internally Displaced People (IDP) and cross boarder refugees trans-migrate. People who live in malaria endemic regions are at risk of malarial but build a greater resistance to the parasite. Those who live in non endemic areas (whose natural immunity is low) are more prone to the disease resulting from populations from endemic regions fleeing to non endemic areas and inadvertently bringing the disease with them. This high transmission/low immunity matrix is a good example of how complex the epidemiology of malaria is. |
 |
| |
How do you treat malaria?
Historically "monotherapies" whilst being temporarily effective in combating malaria have, in the long-term, allowed resistance to the drugs to develop. New combination therapies are now used as the preferred treatment and part of The MENTOR Initiative’s goal is to guide and advise country Ministries of Health to sign up to the new therapies as part of their National Malaria Control Programmes. |
 |
| Artemisinin Combination Therapy or ACT is the preferred treatment for uncomplicated malaria. Artemisinin is the active ingredient in the herb Sweet Wormwood and has been used in China for thousands of years. It is highly effective and is used in combination with a traditional malaria drug like Amodiaquine or Lumefantrine. |
| Rapid Diagnostic Tests RDT are fast (within five minutes), simple (uncomplicated training), and highly accurate single use only malaria tests. There is no need to supply a microscope and train the user to analyse the data, thus eliminating the chance of a misdiagnosis and resultant wasted drugs leading to an inadvertent build up of resistance. |
 |
| ACT distribution in conjunction with RDTs provides the health practitioner with tools to correctly diagnose and effectively treat cases of uncomplicated malaria. IM Artemether now helps to simplify treatment of severe malaria. |
 |
| |
| Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to malaria. The parasite depletes the red blood cell count, causing anaemia, resulting in low birth weight babies which is the greatest single risk factor in the first month of life. Treatment for pregnant women is available with Intermittent Preventative Treatment IPT. |
| |
What next?
Malaria is controllable. It is a disease that in the past was widely spread throughout Mediterranean Europe, but through a concerted (and expensive) elimination programme through the ‘50s and ‘60s, malaria has been eradicated from this affluent region.
Viet Nam is an example success story. The number of deaths from malaria was reduced from 4,500 in 1990 to just 100 in 1997. The ground-breaking strategy was the effective distribution and use of ITN’s or bed nets and the country-wide implementation of the new effective drugs protocols. |
 |
|
