Anti Malaria Policies in Australia and Tanzania - Literature review Example

Malaria as a Global Health Issue, Anti Malaria Policies in Australia and Tanzania Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: Malaria as a Global Health Issue, Anti Malaria Policies in Australia and Tanzania Malaria as a Global Health Issue, Anti Malaria Policies in Australia and Tanzania Malaria is a killer tropical disease. According to the Jadhav, Khan, Shaikh & Jadhav (2012), half of the world population; which is around 3.3 billion people at a risk of contracting Malaria. In addition to this, the number of people who contract malaria in 2010 was about 216,000,000out of which 665,000 of them died (Jadhav, Khan, Shaikh & Jadhav, 2012). Due to the above statistics, it is appropriate to conclude that Malaria is a global health issue jus as HIV/ AIDS, hence there is the need for concerted efforts from all the government authorities in order to prevent and cure the disease and possibly eradicate it if possible. As indicated above Malaria is a tropical disease which is spread by the female Anopheles mosquito. The disease is caused by a parasite known as Plasmodium which is transmitted to humans through the bites of the female anopheles mosquito. There are various policies which national authorities have established in a bid to fight and control Malaria. There is a sharp difference between the policies established in developed countries and those in developing countries. The following essay will compare and contrast the policies used to deal with Malaria in Australia, which is a developed country and in Tanzania which is a developing country. To start with, a discussion of the situation in the two countries is important in order to acknowledge the state of their policies against Malaria. Tanzania is a tropical country, with most of the country lying just below the equator, hence it is Malaria zone. The country is found in Eastern Africa and is a developing country. The country has high cases of Malaria infections, some of which lead to death, with the number of deaths related to Malaria being 120,000, 75% of which were children (Makundi, Mboera, Malebo & Kitua, 2007). According to Makundi, Mboera, Malebo & Kitua (2007) Malaria is approximated to cost the Tanzanian economy 240,000,000 US Dollars each year which is as a result of a loss in the gross domestic product. On the other hand, Australia is also a Malaria prone zone owing to its proximity to the tropics. However, the country has already been declared as a Malaria free country by the World Health Organization (Meleigy, 2012). There is a sharp difference between the anti Malaria policies which are established and practiced in both countries. This is due to the state of their economic might, Tanzania is a developing country and is struggling to fund its policies while Australia is a developed country, hence was able to eradicate Malaria, hence being declared Malaria free. The comparison and contrasting of the policies used to deal with Malaria in both countries will be done with respect to the following topics, curative policies, prevention policies, research & development and control polices. After the analysis it will be seen that Australia is far much more advanced in its anti Malaria policies as compared to Tanzania. The first difference between the malaria policies in the two countries is malaria curative measures/ policies. Malaria is a killer disease and owing to the large number of deaths associated with the disease, there is a need to ensure that the health services in a country are placed in a good position to offer affordable and quality health services to the Malaria patients (Dunn, Mare & Makungu, 2011). Australia has already been declared as a Malaria free country by the World Health Organization. This is partly because of the country’s efforts to provide an affordable and quality health care system to Malaria patients. The Australian government invests a lot of money in the fight against Malaria, specifically so in the health care system. The treatment Malaria to children under 5years is free in the country and the Malaria medication costs for Australians above 5 years are highly subsidized (Australian Government, 2013). The health care system in the country is also managed sustainably, hence ensuring that instances of drug shortages do not occur. Generally, the Australian government is able to support the Malaria curative measures in the legal and economic sense; hence the number of deaths as a result of Malaria infections in Australia is very low. On the other hand, the opposite applies in Tanzania. The country’s anti Malaria policy is not adequately funded by the country’s budget due to the poor economic conditions which prevail in the country (Dongus, Pfeiffer, Metta, Mbuyita & Obist, 2010). As a result of this, the country is highly dependent on the international community for donations in finances, drugs and expertise so as to carry out its Malaria medication policies. The drug and technical knowledge assistance which is given by the donors for instance the United States and the World Health organization have enabled the country to be able to get cheap Malaria drugs, hence being able to offer affordable Malaria health care in the country (Antao & Hastings, 2012). From the comparison above, it can be seen that there is a big difference in the malaria curative policies in Australia and Tanzania. Another set of policies worth discussing are the Malaria prevention and control policies in the two countries. There is a big difference in their applications in Tanzania and Australia. Looking at Australia, it can be seen that the country invests a lot of money in the fight against Malaria. It can be acknowledged that the country plays a major role in the fight against the killer disease in the Asian region. The country provides financial, technical knowledge and drugs to the various countries located in the region, hence contributing to the Malaria control and prevention in the region. In the year 2012, Australia hosted the ‘Malaria 2012: Saving Lives in the Asia Pacific conference’ which was meant at establishing policies which would enable a collaborative effort by the Asian Pacific countries towards eradicating Malaria. At the conference, the Australian government pledged to spend approximately 100 million US dollars over a period of four years so as to enable the efficient control and prevention of Malaria in the region (Pearson & Walford, 2012). On the other hand, Tanzania is not an influence in the East African region as it is the case with Australia in the Pacific region. Moreover, the malaria prevention and control policies in the country are highly dependent on foreign aid, hence leading to their inefficiency in controlling the killer disease. In addition to this, more and more people have continued to suffer under the disguise of culture, which has been a major drawback in the fight against Malaria in the country (Dunn, Mare & Makungu, 2011). Even though the government has established measures towards prevention and control of malaria, they are implemented poorly, leading to their inefficiency. From the above, it can be seen that the Malaria control and prevention policies in the two countries are different Lastly, the research and development policies are very important in the fight against any disease. There is a great difference between the research and development policies in the two countries under study. Australia invests highly in its research and development institutions; and is one of the leading countries in the world in the research on Malaria drugs. The government invests highly in the research and development too. This is contrary to the practice in Tanzania. Tanzania is a consumer nation; meaning that it only consumes what has been researched and developed in other countries and not what it has developed on its own. The level of research and development in Malaria in the two countries is an indicator why Malaria is still a threat to Tanzanians and not to Australians. From the discussion above, it can be seen that there is a big difference in the Malaria research in Australia and Tanzania. There are also some similarities in the malaria policies in the both countries. One of the similarities is that each of the countries has a strategic plan to fight against malaria. One of the anti malaria strategic plans which can be regarded to as having been successful in Tanzania is the National Malaria Medium Term Strategic plan 2002-2007, which saw the reduction of malaria infections in the country by a substantial margin (Kassile, 2012 ). The government through the ministry of health enforces and executes the policies. This is the same case with the malaria policies in Australia. The government via the ministry of health sees to it that all the appropriate measures towards fighting the disease are executed effectively. Just as with the Tanzanian government, the Australian government makes use of strategic plans in order to ensure that they specific goals and objectives are realized. For instance, the government has a strategic plan of fighting malaria in the Asia pacific region as per the announcements in the recent Malaria conference held in the country (Pearson & Walford, 2012). Therefore, both countries make use of strategic plans in a bid to execute policies to fight Malaria. Another similarity between the malaria policies in Australia and Tanzania is the upholding of early diagnosis of malaria cases and consequent treatment of infected persons. This is one of the major strengths of any health care system. The ability to diagnose malaria cases promptly and early enables the health care system to take care of the patient before the disease gets worse (Reyburn, Mbakiliwa, Mwangi, Mwerinde, Olomi, Drakeley & Whitty, 2007). Generally, there are some diseases which have similar symptoms, for instance Malaria and typhoid. A doctor may be treating one disease instead of the other in such instances as those where there is a lack of early and rapid diagnosis of the disease. For this reason, the Australian and Tanzania malaria policies advocate for prompt and early diagnosis of malaria. In addition to ensuring that a patient gets treated early before his or her heat situation deteriorates, it ensures that the government is able to get up to date statistics on the malaria situation on the ground. Therefore, early diagnosis of malaria is a part of malaria policies in both Tanzania and Australia. Evaluating the malaria policies in Australia and Tanzania, it can be seen that there are some sharp differences, which explains why Australia is a Malaria free zone while Tanzania is still struggling to fight the disease. This paper has identified that there are differences in the curative, prevention & control and research policies in the two countries. In the above three policies, it has been seen that the policy establishment and execution in Australia is more advanced than in Tanzania. This explains the difference in the Malaria prevalence in the two countries. On the other hand, it should be acknowledge that Tanzania is still making efforts towards eradicating Malaria in the country, which explains why the country shares some policy aspects in common with Australia. The paper has identified that the malaria policies in the two countries are similar with respect to the use of strategic plans and encouraging early diagnosis in the against the disease. It is recommended that Tanzania improves on its policy execution and possibly adopt some of the strategies employed by Australia in the fight against Malaria. In conclusion, it can be seen from this paper that Australia’s anti Malaria policies are much more advanced as compared to Tanzania’s. This is the reason as to why Malaria remains to be a threat to Tanzanians while it is not to Australians. It has been seen that although Tanzania is trying to establish good policies, its lack of finances owing to its economic state is drawing it back as opposed to Australia, whose government has invested highly in its domestic anti Malaria programs and as at now is concentrating on eradicating Malaria in the Asia Pacific region. All in all, it has been seen that Malaria is a global health issue, hence the need to assist developing countries like Tanzania to fight this disease. References Antao, T., & Hastings, I., (2012). Policy Options For Deploying Anti-Malarial Drugs In Endemic Countries: A Population Genetics Approach, Malaria Journal, 11 (1):422- 440 Australian Government, (2013). Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), Department Of Health and Ageing, 1-4 Dunn, C., Mare, A., & Makungu, C., (2011). Malaria Risk Behaviors, Socio-Cultural Practices And Rural Livelihoods In Southern Tanzania: Implications For Bednet Usage, Social Science & Medicine. 72 (1), 408- 417 Dongus, S., Pfeiffer, C., Metta, E., Mbuyita, S., & Obist, B., (2010). Building Multi-Layered Resilience In A Malaria Control Programme In Dar Es Salaam, TanzaniaProgress in Development Studies. 10 (1) : 309- 326 Jadhav, V., Khan, A., Shaikh, J., & Jadhav, J., (2012). Incidence of Plasmodium Vivax and Plasmodium Falciparum from Khuldabad Taluka,Dist-Aurangabad,Maharashtra, World Journal of Science and Technology, 2(8):13-14 Kassile, T., (2012). Prevention and Management of Malaria in Under-Five Children In Tanzania: A Review, Tanzania Journal of Health Research, 14(3): 1-14 Makundi,E., Mboera, L., Malebo, H., & Kitua, A., (2007). Priority Setting On Malaria Interventions In Tanzania: Strategies And Challenges To Mitigate Against The Intolerable Burden, Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 77 (6); 106–111 Meleigy, M., (2007). The Quest To Be Free Of Malaria, Bull World Health Organ. 85(7): 507–508. Pearson, M., & Walford, V., (2012). Malaria In The Asia-Pacific: Challenges And Opportunities For Sustainable Financing, Malaria 2012, Saving Lives in The Asia Pacific, 1(2); 1-56 Reyburn, H, Mbakiliwa, H., Mwangi, R., Mwerinde, O., Olomi, R., Drakeley, C., & Whitty, C., (2007). Rapid Diagnostic Tests Compared With Malaria Microscopy For Guiding Outpatient Treatment Of Febrile Illness In Tanzania: Randomized Trial, BMJ, 334 (1); 403 Read More