Eliminating malaria

Malaria is a life-threatening mosquito-borne blood disease caused by a Plasmodium Parasite, it is transmitted to humans through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquitoes, called ‘malaria vectors’ and once an infected mosquito bites a humans, the parasites multiply in the host’s liver before infecting and destroying red blood cells. Meanwhile, Malaria is considered as major health challenge that hinders the development of countries, especially those in African, where over a million lives, including expectant mothers and children under the age of 0-5 years are affected. Mindful that the disease remains one of the biggest challenges and which causes 11 percent of maternal mortality in Nigeria, the Federal government and key stakeholders are making serious efforts to ensure that the rate at which the disease spread is reduced to the barest minimum or reduced maximally. Though, a report tagged, Malaria: Its Human Impact, Challenges, and Control Strategies in Nigeria, by Arese Carrington, described malaria as one of the most serious health problems facing the world today. According to the report, the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates that over 300 million new cases of malaria arise, with approximately two to three million deaths resulting from contraction, Malaria is endemic in tropical Africa, with an estimated 90 percent of the total malaria incidence and deaths occurring there, particularly amongst pregnant women and children. Specifically, malaria is causing various problems in Nigeria. Malaria is the only vector-borne disease to be placed on the World Health Organization’s Disability Adjusted Life Years list. It is imperative to look at health problems like malaria that grossly affect the morbidity and mortality rates, as well as the economy of a developing country, such as Nigeria. Nigeria has a population of about 180 million people. A large percentage of the country’s population lives in extreme poverty in rural areas, without access to potable water and adequate health care. Though, the report noted that Nigeria, a low-income country, saddled with huge foreign debt burden, risked “sinking further into debt as it struggles with a sick populace whose good health is essential for its economic growth.” Malaria is caused by four different protozoa in the plasmodium genus: either Plasmodium Vivax, which is more prevalent in low endemic areas, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malaria, and the Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous of the four. The Plasmodium falciparum has a life cycle in the mosquito vector and also in the human host. The anopheles gambiae mosquito is the vector responsible for the transmission of malaria. The prevalence of malaria is dependent on the abundance of the female anopheles species, the propensity of the mosquito bite, its longevity and the rate of development of the plasmodium parasite inside the mosquito, and when the mosquito bites and sucks the blood of a person infected with malaria parasites, she becomes infected; she then transmits the parasites to the next human host she bites. Ademola Orunbon, Ogun state