Malaria

Plasmodium is a group of one-celled animal parasites that lives on the red cells in the blood of many birds, reptiles and mammals. There are four human malaria species - P. falciparum, P. ovale, P. vivax and P. malariae. P. falciparum is by far the most dangerous. Unfortunately, it is also the most common in Africa. Malaria is transmitted by certain Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasite has to undergo a crucial development process in the mosquito, and this can only happen in certain mosquitos.

Malaria kills over one million people each year, most of whom are children under 5, and almost 90% of whom live in Africa, south of the Sahara. Each year there are over 300 million clinical cases of malaria, that is five times as many as combined cases of TB, AIDS, measles and leprosy. Malaria is responsible for one out of every four childhood deaths in Africa.

Women are four times more likely to get sick, and twice as likely to die from malaria if they are pregnant. Malaria-afflicted families are able to harvest only 40% of their crops, compared with healthy families, suggesting a link between malaria and poverty. The direct and indirect costs of malaria in Africa are estimated to exceed $2 billion per year. It is believed that it could be controlled with a budget amounting to one-tenth of this amount. Malaria slows economic growth in African countries by an estimated 1.3% each year.

The cheapest and safest malaria drug - chloroquine - is rapidly losing its effectiveness. In some parts of the world, malaria is resistant to the four leading front-line drugs. Malaria quickly rebounded from the mass insecticide spraying campaigns in the 1950's and 1960's. It then eluded mass treatment strategies based on a single drug, such as chloroquine. Malaria can quickly adapt and rebound when efforts are fragmented and uncoordinated. Yet it has been shown that malaria deaths could be reduced with coordinated intervention.