Malaria: a disease out of control?

Kailaash 9S2

Malaria is a tropical disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium. It is transmitted to humans by a bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. In 2017, malaria affected an estimated 219 million people globally, causing 435,000 deaths. The disease is the most common in Africa and some countries in Asia. The mortality rate ranges from 0.3-2.2% and can reach the ranges of 11-30% where malaria is more severe.

Female Anopheles mosquitoes breed in areas where there is still, hot water. Also, the area must be moderately humid for them to breed. Therefore, malaria is

most prevalent in the continent of Africa, more specifically in countries like Sierra Leone. Another reason malaria is most prevalent in those areas is because, there are many developing countries who do not have access to the healthcare required to treat malaria as they cannot afford it.

Spatially, malaria varies quite a lot. In many countries like the UK, USA and Canada, malaria is very rare, and cases are mostly from tourism. In countries near the equator, such as Venezuela, Anopheles mosquitoes are most common due to the heat and humidity, hence the cases keep rising as do the deaths. In the continent of Africa, more specifically in developing countries such as Ethiopia, malaria is most prevalent. Also in Asia, countries such as India and Sri Lanka suffer from malaria due to immense heat and humidity. Malaria has been around for a very long time and there have been major breakthroughs regarding healthcare yet,

many people cannot access it. The doctor to patient ratio can be as high as one to fifty thousand. This makes the tablets and medication for malaria very expensive so many people in poverty cannot access it. However, there are many ways to prevent getting malaria. One way is to sleep with a net around your bed to stop the mosquitoes from getting in. Another way is to buy some strong repellent to make the mosquitoes go away or even kill them. These methods are very cheap and can help prevent malaria. Also, in hot countries many people walk around shirtless or with skin exposed. This is very dangerous as a mosquito could bite you so wearing thin clothing to cover your body is beneficial. Malaria is a disease out of control solely due to our lack of helping developing countries. If we donate some money or healthcare to these countries, they will gain the medication that they need, and we can eventually achieve the UN’s goal of eradicating malaria.

Photo: Mother and Child. Sierra Leone by Annie Spratt on Unsplash