|
Malaria
Malaria is a leading cause of death and illness worldwide and especially in
Africa and Asia amongst children and pregnant women. It is caused by a
parasite which is transmitted by the female mosquito.
 The symptoms of malaria may include exhaustion, fever, sweating, shaking,
chills, muscle pain, anaemia and jaundice. In serious cases patients may
experience kidney failure, seizures, or comas. Although malaria can prove
fatal, illness and death can be avoided and scientists are in a race against
time to find suitable combination drugs which will provide a permanent cure
and stop the risk of further infection.
The total number of child deaths under the age of 5 attributed to malaria is
greater than the number of deaths from measles and HIV/AIDS combined
according to the World Health Report 2005 ("WHO"). Over a third of the world's
population lives in areas where they are at risk of malaria and these are
mainly in the poorest and developing countries. At least a million deaths
occur every year due to malaria with more than 80% of these occurring in
sub-Saharan Africa, even though the population here only accounts for 60% of
the cases of malaria worldwide.
Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionately high burden of illness due to
malaria. Nigeria has almost a quarter of this population and is therefore a
significant contributor. The high level of illness is due to a combination
of an efficient mosquito which assures transmission of the parasite and is
increasingly becoming drug resistant, conducive weather conditions, a high
population of vulnerable people (children and pregnant women) and poor
infrastructure. In some cases the wrong medication is prescribed but other
times it is the right medication but the wrong dosage.
In addition to the health impact on the individual, there are socio-economic
implications for the society at large. It has been estimated that intensive
malaria can reduce the economic growth of a country by as much as 1.3% in a
year. Tackling malaria is therefore very important to both the individual
and the government.
According to the statistics reported by the Nigerian ministry of health in
2000, five pregnant women die every day and three children under the age of
5 die every hour from malaria. According to Global Health, a child dies
every 30 seconds in Africa! Malaria is also a major cause of admission to
hospital.
The slogan for Malaria Day in April earlier this year was 'universal access
to effective malaria treatment is a human right.' Unfortunately, for some
major drug companies the cure for malaria is not high on their list of
priorities, but it is WHO's goal to reduce malaria related mortality in
Africa by up to 50% by 2010 and for it to cease being a public health
problem altogether by 2030.
In order to reverse the current trend, and make a positive impact on the
projected figures, by 2010 the Nigerian government would like to achieve a
60% success rate with regard to the number of children under the age of 5
and pregnant women sleeping under insecticide treated nets. As at 2001,
5.7% of children and 3.1% of pregnant women complied with this advice.
The key interventions required for controlling the transmission of malaria
include good environmental sanitation to stop the breeding of mosquitoes,
use of insecticide treated nets to reduce transmission, good nutrition to
prevent anaemia and reduce the impact of malaria and access to effective and
timely treatment of malaria when needed. These interventions require
health education as well as access to good public health infrastructure.
The importance of malaria as a major cause of morbidity and mortality is
recognised by HealthyAfrica which makes it one of our priority areas. At
our clinic in Epe, about 20% of the consultations to date were for malaria.
We also conduct regular health education sessions including advice sessions
on how to use insecticide treated nets. We have also given out nets to
families that cannot afford them.
As our patients pay an annual fee of N4000 which includes their drugs when
treated for malaria, they are able to engage the service sooner thereby
benefiting from the effective treatments available. For more information on
the work of HealthyAfrica, please visit our website at www.healthyafrica.org
Dr Femi Oduneye is currently the Director of Public Health for Blackwater
Valley and Hart Primary Care Trust in Northeast Hampshire. He is also the
founder and Executive Chair of the Board of Healthy Africa.
|
