How Important is Malaria as a World-Wide Health - Essay Example

? HOW IMPORTANT IS MALARIA AS A WORLD-WIDE HEALTH PROBLEM Malaria is a disease caused by the plasmodium parasite which is spread to human being through the bites of infected anopheles (World Health Organisations [WHO], 2013a). Symptoms of malaria are vomiting, fever and headache among other signs. Most of these symptoms normally occur after 10 to 15 days after being bitten. Malaria is a life threatening disease because mostly it causes blockage of blood flow to vital organs in the body. According to (WHO, 2013b), about half of the world’s population is at risk of contracting malaria, while in 2010 about 219 million cases of the disease were reported and an estimated 660,000 deaths was also recorded. Therefore this disease is a drain to many national economies. According to a report by (WHO, 2006) malaria is a curable and preventable disease but it still kills many people. The report says that this high number of deaths is as a result of people not going for treatment until they are very ill, most people live far from health centres therefore they tend to buy medicine from local vendors who in most cases are not qualified and finally people do not know what causes the disease and how it is spread. It is thought that man and malaria has existed with each other for a long time, it is also believed that the disease is mainly found in tropics and subtropics, while the temperature zone is free from it (Sinha, 2005) and that 80% of malaria cases are reported in Africa especially in the tropical areas (Sinha, 2005). According to (Centers for Disease and Control Prevention [CDC], 2013a), the occurrence of the disease depends on climatic factors such as rainfall, humidity and temperature. These factors are condusive for anapholes mosquitoes to survive and multiply. Also the conditions make the malaria parasite complete their growth cycle in the mosquitoes. The latest CDC’s survey shows that in 2011, about 2000 cases of malaria were reported and treated in the United States of America. Almost all of which were acquired in overseas especially in regions worst hit by malaria. This is because every year, millions of Americans travel to nations which malaria is transmitted. According to the (WHO, 2006) about 74,498,112 cases of malaria were reported in Africa in 2004, the bulk of this cases were children under five years which was put at 21,693, 938 as shown in table 1 below. Table 1: Outpatient morbidity as reported by member states in 2004 Area Under 5 years malaria cases Total malaria case Central Africa 1,983,244 8,750,814 Eastern & Southern Africa 14,437,728 13,033,318 West Africa 5, 272,966 15,636,255 Africa region 21,693,938 74,498,112 Clearly this high numbers of cases of malaria has a negative impact on the economic and social development in these countries. This is because high prevalence of malaria impairs health and thus reduces economic development. According to (WHO, 2006) the high rate of malaria is responsible for an estimated 1.3% reduction in economic growth and US$ 12 billion loss. The report also shows that the direct cost of malaria to a single house hold in Ghana was US$ 6.87 while in Uganda it was US $ 4.87. Although the malaria recorded in the Health Management Information system may not be accurate as there are a number of malaria cases which are not reported and thus go an noticed. Therefore it is estimated that figures may be as high as 45% for the inpatient cases across Africa. A pre-requisite for scaling up malaria control is a better organised and well managed health systems. The health systems must move towards prioritising action against malaria and its consequences. According to (WHO, 2006), 42 countries in Africa have prioritised malaria control and prevention by developing national health policies and strategic plans. These plans have guided these countries to source for funds from organisations such as World Bank booster programme and the Global fund among other organisations. All these countries have established a National Malaria Control Programme which is responsible for policy and strategy development, partnership development, monitoring and evaluation, overseeing implementation of malaria control and finally management of human resources. Other advisory bodies such as Malaria Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC) have also been formed by WHO to provide independent advice to WHO director general on how to develop policies to control and eliminate malaria. The MPAC advises the WHO director general specifically on: engagement of WHO on malaria related activities; major issues and challenges to achieving global malaria goals; appropriate malaria policies and standards based member states; and identification of priority activities to address the challenges facing global malaria goals. CDC has also been in the fore front in providing scientist leadership in fighting malaria. Scientist from this organisation provides evidence based solutions, policies and programs. They also monitor and evaluate progress towards global malaria goals. Most of these activities are carried out in malaria prone countries. The institution’s strategic plan has been helpful in; increasing global understanding and capacity to reduce death from the disease especially among pregnant women and children; They have also contributed in understanding the impact of anti-malarial drug resistance. It has also provided evidence based guidelines in collaboration with WHO, used by national malaria control programme worldwide. It has also developed and evaluated all the key interventions and control recommended by WHO and used by program worldwide to fight malaria such as indoor spraying of homes to protect people from mosquitoes, insecticides treated bed nets (ITNs) to protect people from malaria, rapid diagnostic test and treatment with high quality drugs such as artemesinin- containing combination therapies (ACTs) and finally treatment to protect pregnant women and their new born children. CDC is currently conducting researches to redefine the above proven intervention, so that their effectiveness can be maximised and their challenges overcomed. The institution is also carrying out research and development in the field and laboratory on transmission of the malaria parasite, human immunological and pathologic responses to malaria and finally the drug resistance. It should also be noted that deaths from malaria would be significantly high without the input of these organisations. In the last decade there has be an increase in funding to support scale up of malaria prevention and treatment which has resulted in about 1.1 million lives being saved and malaria cases and deaths having sharply decreased by 25% and 33% in sub-saharan Africa (CDC, 2013b). A lot of progress has been made towards the control and treatment of malaria. Although with the challenges like drug resistance and usage of the malarial drugs to treat patients whose laboratory test reports show that they don’t have the malaria parasite because of the doubts in the equipment being used, I think more effort and resources should be put in place. The development and spread of parasite resistance to certain anti-malarial drugs has prevented a major challenge towards eradication of malaria and probably may have contributed to the resurgence of increase in deaths in the recent years. The only antimalarial drug which the malaria parasite is not resistant to is artemesinin. Therefore WHO called for the termination and distribution of mono therapies of artemesinin, however there are few pharmaceutical companies in Africa which are yet to comply creating a further complication. Apart from that it is thought that up to 35% of anti-malarial drugs sold in Africa are counterfeits. Therefore these countries should put stringent measures and policies to reduce the rate of distribution of these counterfeits. Accurate diagnosis is very important for malaria management; however in Africa the number of people treated for diagnosed malaria is reducing compared with other regions of the world, with the result that anti malarials could be used to treat people without malaria. The use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) which give fast results, are easy to use and are affordable have improved malaria management. However the introduction of RDTs need to be carefully planned and should also include transport and establishment of a comprehensive quality control system. In addition training of the end user should be taken into considerations so to prevent some prescribers to treat with ACTs despite a negative result. In conclusion malaria reduces economic growth and is a major public health issue. Management and sustained control of this disease presents significant challenges. There are various methods used to prevent and treat malaria such as indoor spraying of homes to protect people from mosquitoes, ITNs to protect people from malaria, rapid diagnostic test and treatment with high quality drugs such as ACTs and finally treatment to protect pregnant women and their new born children. References Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. (2013a, November 28). Where malaria occurs. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/distribution.html Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. (2013b, November 28). CDC’s Malaria program. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/resources/pdf/fsp/cdc_malaria_program.pdf Sinha, A.K. (2005). Malaria. New Delhi: Drya Ganj: A.P.H Publishing corporation. World Health Organisation. (2006). The Africa report 2006. Regional offices for Africa and Eastern Mediterranean. World Health Organisation. (2013a, November 28). Health topics. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/malaria/en/ World Health Organisation. (2013b, November 28). 10 facts about malaria. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/# Read More