A Curable Disease Kills Millions Essay
Did you know that every 45 seconds a child dies from malaria? Africa’s community is taking a tough beating from malaria. Malaria is easily preventable and treatable everywhere but Africa. One of malaria’s effects is people dying literally less than once a minute. [The rest of this paragraph was lost. Sorry.]
There are a few great ways to prevent and treat Malaria. Mosquito nets are treated with a long lasting insecticide and are the fastest way to prevent malaria. They are perfect at night when the vast majority of transmissions occur. Most bed nets are capable of protecting more than one person. If the bed net is treated with insecticide it may offer up to twice the protection of an untreated net. A treated net may even protect other people on the outside of the net. For people in Africa the bed net is only from two to ten dollars and it will save their lives but only about 10% of the people who need one have one. Spraying the walls of an indoor room also helps prevent malaria. This is an incredibly important part in the fight of malaria. This spraying will assist the killing of female mosquitoes carrying malaria. In some locations, spraying is used to eliminate mosquito breeding sites. This spraying of larval controls only works in some areas though. To eradicate the disease of malaria in a person it will require a vaccine. “The global goal of eradication of malaria will not be possible without new technologies” Said Okumu. Only about three out of 100 of the children who need it, have a vaccine. Often the doctors don’t have medicine so the doctor has to give an alternative option.“He has malaria” the doctor says. “But we have no medicine today. Here is an aspirin” The doctor hands the child a pill. “Come back tomorrow, maybe we will have the medicine then.” Scientists and organizations are working to accelerate the distribution of malaria vaccines. Organizations hope to ensure availability in Africa. In Africa, 40% of health resources are used to treat malaria.
There are a few great ways to prevent and treat malaria. Malaria has many effects on Africa including tons of people dying. An estimated 655,000 people died of malaria in 2010. Malaria deaths have fallen by 25% since 2000. Every 45 seconds one person dies of malaria. There are an estimated 247 million cases of malaria each year resulting in nearly 800 thousand deaths. Approximately 3.3 billion people live in areas where malaria is a huge threat. 91% of malaria deaths occur in Africa. Symptoms of malaria include headaches, chills, diarrhea, muscular pains, lethargy (lack of energy, feel sleepy), sickness, coughing fits, and abdominal pains. The most deadly type of malaria is plasmodium falciparum which is the most common in Africa. Most people who die from malaria in Africa are under five years old. “A child dying from malaria every 45 seconds is completely unacceptable when we have effective and affordable ways to help children and adults avoid infection. Incredibly, one out of four child deaths in Africa is due to malaria. Yet, insecticide treated bed nets can reduce mortality by up to 25 %. We need to help countries expand programs to get nets and drugs for treatment to all women and children who are threatened by this silent crisis" says Dr. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF.
Unfortunately, money plays a big part in why so many people die of malaria in Africa. The economic effects of malaria are massive, but the human pain is even greater. Mosquito insecticide treated bed nets are sitting in warehouses because people can’t afford to pay $2 for them. Medicine for Malaria is very expensive and people don’t have any money for it. Poverty-stricken people can’t afford the medicines and malaria also creates poverty. When people can barely afford to feed themselves, they spend their wages on food instead of housing and farms. Mosquitoes can easily get into flimsy built houses that people couldn’t spend much money on. Malaria disproportionately affects poor people who cannot afford treatment or have limited access to health care, trapping families and communities in a downward spiral of poverty. Malaria costs Africa at least $12 billion every year in lost productivity. When money is available deaths begin decreasing but when money is used up, the deaths increase. Malaria can decrease gross domestic product by as much as 1.3% in countries with high disease rates.
In conclusion, Africa is taking a tough beating from malaria. There are a few ways to prevent and treat malaria. Malaria does have a huge impact on Africa’s communities. Africa also doesn’t have enough money to treat malaria. How can we let this preventable and treatable disease continue to kill a person every 45 seconds?
