2023-04-24 16:59:29
Despite the advent of various vaccines, malaria is still a common and feared disease in Africa. More and more people would have built up resistance to the drugs, so that they no longer have an effect.
Malaria still claimed 619,000 lives worldwide in 2021, according to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO). The disease is caused by a mosquito bite and causes fever, headache and chills. If left untreated, the disease often results in death. According to the WHO, 247 million people will be infected with the disease by 2021, a figure that is increasing every year. About half of the world’s population lives in an area where malaria occurs.
Africa
The majority of infections (95 percent) and deaths (96 percent) occur in Africa. The highest number of deaths occurs in Nigeria (31.3 percent), Congo (12.6 percent), Tanzania (4.1 percent) and Niger (3.9 percent). The recommended treatments are combination therapies, but worrisome cases of resistance to these drugs have emerged in Southeast Asia and Africa, particularly in Uganda, Rwanda and Eritrea.
“Any threat to the effectiveness of treatments would be catastrophic and could lead to massive numbers of infections and deaths,” warns Dr Dorothy Achu, head of the tropical and vector-borne diseases division of WHO’s regional office for Africa.
New mosquito
Recently, a new mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, native to Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, was spotted in Africa. This mosquito has adapted to life in an urban environment and is resistant to many anti-mosquito products. The use of insecticides is one of the most important forms of control against infection with the malaria virus.
As of October 2021, WHO has been recommending the use of the “RTS,S” malaria vaccine for children living in contaminated areas. This vaccine, developed by the British pharmaceutical group GSK, significantly reduces the risk of death in young children, according to the organization. Vaccination campaigns have been organized in three African countries: Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
A new malaria vaccine developed by the University of Oxford has just been given the green light by Ghanaian authorities to be used. By 2030, the WHO hopes to reduce malaria mortality by at least 90 percent. Since 2015, a dozen countries have been officially declared malaria-free, including Argentina (in 2019), Algeria (2019) and China (2021).
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss a thing of the stars.
#fight #malaria #continues