4 minute read
What are the main steps in the
What are the main steps in the fight against malaria?
Julian 9J2
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In this article I would like to discuss the prevention the world is taking against malaria. Before analysing the preventative steps being taken at the moment and how the current Covid-19 situation has affected these, it is important to underline the problem of the disease itself, the areas affected and the severity of this disease.
Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite which affects humans and many other animals like bats or lizards. It causes widespread poverty and economic issues. To be infected by this disease, you must be bitten by an infected female anopheles mosquito which carries the plasmodium parasite. Once infected, the parasite then has free access to the bloodstream. When another mosquito feeds on an infected animal or human, they have a high chance of becoming a malaria-carrying mosquito. Malaria carrying mosquitos only exist in tropical climates or climates where the average temperature throughout the year resides at above 19 degrees Celsius. Whilst most of the cases occur in SubSaharan Africa, areas of the Americas, the West Pacific, South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean also are affected. The continuous spread of malaria is a very serious
problem; with an estimated 228 million cases of malaria and 405,000 deaths globally in 2018 it is clear to see that we need to counter it. Along with the infection and death rates, malaria wreaks havoc economically and socially in communities. It is a forefront cause of mass-poverty in certain areas. The consensus for the prevention of malaria is vector control. WHO recommends protection via insecticide treated bed nets and residual spraying as these are widely considered to be the most useful in a wide range of circumstances. Nearly 50% of the at-risk population of malaria in Africa were sleeping under bed nets or had access to them in 2018. This is promising and it has shown results, with multiple factors leading to a large decline in cases but unfortunately this number has been at a standstill for the last few years. Insecticide is something which only needs to be sprayed once or twice a year and the higher the coverage, the better. Despite the lack of time and effort needed for this prevention method, the number of people spraying the inside of their houses has declined from 5% to 2% from 2010 to 2018 due to a lack of funds. Especially in this time, when Covid-19 has sent shockwaves around the globe, these practices have heavily declined as they are deemed to not take priority as essential medical treatment in this time of need. Recently, insecticides have become less useful as the parasite has started to build resistance to it. For instance, 70+ countries reported that there was resistance in at least one of the four classes (organochlorines, organophosphates, carbamates and pyrethroids) and even more worryingly, 27 countries report resistance to all four main classes of insecticide.
As the insecticides will eventually become redundant, scientists have been researching alternative methods, which may seem drastic but ultimately will have a positive effect if their experiments are successful. They are experimenting with genetically modified mosquitoes which have been modified with a gene drive (a gene which is selfish and takes priority) so when they are eventually released into the normal mosquito population, the modification will be widespread. With this method, almost all the offspring have this modification rather than the normal 50-50 percent chance. These are similar to the mosquitos which have been modified to fend off diseases like Zika and dengue. The female mosquitos which have been modified to have mouths like males, meaning they will be unable to bite and spread malaria. They also have mutated their reproductive organs, so they cannot lay offspring. The aim is that if the mosquitos are released into the wild, the male mosquitos will eventually sterilise all the females and the spread of malaria would come to a halt. Malaria is considered a very serious problem because of the sheer number of cases and deaths, the economic and social impact, the building resistance to insecticides to fend off malaria and the lack of funding. Covid-19 has not helped whatsoever, further damaging the work of all the scientists, volunteers and workers dedicating their lives to this cause. It is evident we need to act, as people continue to die day by day. People in developing countries lack the funds to pay for anti-malarial drugs if infected, and some have no funds to pay for bed nets or low-level insecticides. To put it bluntly, we are not coping well; we have started to pay more attention and we are trying our best to prevent the next infection or the next death, but we still lack the necessary funding and backing to completely protect every person globally from the threat of malaria.
