From malaria. Some health agencies say every 45 or 30 seconds.
(Chris Thomas/USAID)
So before you finish reading this, think how many children somewhere in the world have died simply because they didn't have a mosquito net.
The World Health Organization, along with a host of other organizations, monitors the disease and prevention efforts.
According to the World malaria report 2011, there were 216 million cases of malaria and an estimated 655 000 deaths in 2010. Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% globally since 2000, and by 33% in the WHO African Region. Most deaths occur among children living in Africa where a child dies every minute of malaria and the disease accounts for approximately 22% of all childhood deaths.
Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. The parasites are spread to people through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes, called "malaria vectors", which bite mainly between dusk and dawn.
Who is at risk?
Approximately half of the world's population is at risk of malaria. Most malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. However, Asia, Latin America, and to a lesser extent the Middle East and parts of Europe are also affected. In 2010, malaria was present in 106 countries and territories.
The figures for Asia are also disturbing:
Malaria is present in 20 countries or territories in South Asia, Eastern Asia, Southeast Asia and in the Western Pacific.
South Asia (5): Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
Eastern Asia (3): China, DPR Korea and Republic of Korea
Southeast Asia (9): Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam
Pacific (3): Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu
Population at risk. More than ~2.2 billion people are at risk of malaria in Asia-Pacific, which represents ~67% of the world population at risk of malaria. Six of the 10 countries worldwide with the largest populations at risk are located in the Asia-Pacific region (India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Viet Nam and the Philippines)
. Malaria figures for the Americas are available
here and include
Amazon rainforest (9): Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela;Central America (8): Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Mexico; Caribbean (3): Haiti, Dominican Republic and Jamaica;Southern South America (2): Argentina and Paraguay
We don't think about malaria much here in the U.S. anymore. But 40 percent of the world's population lives in counties where malaria is endemic.
I started consciously thinking about malaria again the week before Christmas when I saw this news:
Early Results of an Experimental Malaria Vaccine Hold Promise
British scientists report they have developed an experimental vaccine that shows early potential to neutralize many, perhaps all, strains of the deadliest malaria parasite.
Preliminary findings in animal tests of the vaccine found that it stopped every strain of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that is responsible for 9 out of 10 malaria deaths, that scientists pitted against it in the lab.
The new research, published in Nature Communications, by a team of scientists at the University of Oxford, shores up that team’s previous findings on what it calls the malaria parasite’s “Achilles’ heel”: a protein, or antigen, known as RH5.
And it is good news. However, it could take 10 years to develop the vaccine. In the next 10 years, as scientists continue to work on preventatives, how many people will die?
When I sit on my back porch and hear the annoying buzz buzz of a mosquito, I light a candle or apply some non-toxic spray. Sometimes I think of West Nile ... but mostly I'm just irritated or annoyed. I don't think about dying. That is not the case for too many world citizens.
WW2 era poster NARA
As a child, living in Louisiana, I remember my mom spraying with a Flit pump can around the house. She was worried about it (though malaria was purportedly eradicated a few years earlier). We rarely think about the history of malaria in the U.S..
Efforts to control malaria in the United States were heightened at the turn of the 20th century during the U.S. military occupation of Cuba and the construction of the Panama Canal. At the time, malaria and yellow fever were a major cause of death and disease among the workers constructing the canal. Of the more than 26,000 people working on the Canal in 1906, more than 21,000 were hospitalized for malaria. Recognizing the devastating toll that these diseases were having, an aggressive integrated program of insect and malaria control was put into effect. The program had dramatic results – by 1912, of the more than 50,000 workers, only 5,600 were hospitalized.
In 1914, the US Public Health Service (USPHS) went to Congress to secure funds to control malaria in the United States. These efforts were heightened in 1933 with the creation of the U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) where an organized malaria control program was established. At the time, malaria affected 30 percent of the population in the region where the TVA was incorporated. After implementing aggressive research and control operations, the disease was essentially eliminated in the TVA region by 1947. A key part of this effort centered on attacking mosquito breeding sites...
When the CDC was formed in 1946, its mission was to fight malaria. Known then as the Communicable Disease Center, its work centered on the control and eradication of malaria in the U.S. It helped launch the National Malaria Eradication Program, a cooperative undertaking by state and local health agencies of 13 Southeastern states and the CDC. According to the CDC, the program primarily featured applying DDT to the interior surfaces of rural homes or entire premises in counties where malaria was reported to have been prevalent in recent years. By the end of 1949, over 4,650,000 house spray applications had been made. In 1947, 15,000 malaria cases were reported. By 1950, only 2,000 cases were reported. By 1951, malaria was considered eradicated from the United States.
Though I've worked on CDC health initiatives, I didn't know it was founded to combat malaria, until I saw this history. So we here in the U.S. don't have to worry about malaria at home. As citizens of the world, we should be concerned about it globally. I'm tired of listening to right-wing plaints about why the United States should bother to spend our tax dollars on saving lives elsewhere. There are Republican candidates currently mouthing this kind of isolationist rhetoric. Even given the economic stresses here at home, as one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we can do more to help. Republicans have spouted off about this during the recent primary debates.
On our side of the fence, in 2011 President Obama increased the U.S. monetary commitment to fighting malaria, though more is needed. He has continued support for PMI: President's Malaria Initiative. He made this statement on World Malaria Day in 2009:
The United States stands with our global partners and people around the world to reaffirm our commitment to make the U.S. a leader in ending deaths from malaria by 2015.
This begins with ending malaria as a major public health threat in Africa, where it kills nearly one million people each year, and overwhelms public health systems. It is time to redouble our efforts to rid the world of a disease that does not have to take lives.
Together, we have made great strides in addressing this preventable and treatable disease. Across Africa, children and their families are sleeping under bed nets; local groups are working with pregnant women and mothers so that anti-malarial drugs are available for them and for their sick children. In schools and villages, community centers and places of worship, clinics and hospitals, optimism is growing that we can and we will succeed in our ambitious goals.
There is some positive news on the impact of global partnerships. The BBC reported that the global malaria death toll falling:
Despite difficulties in compiling the statistics, there is a clear, and welcome, downward trend in deaths. It is estimated that malaria killed 655,000 people in 2010, compared to 800,000 in 2004. "It is remarkable progress," said Dr Cibulskis. "When I began working in the malaria field in Africa we were fighting a losing battle. Now all that has changed and the risk of dying from malaria has fallen by a third in a decade."
The improvement is down to several factors. A total of 145 million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets were delivered to sub-Saharan Africa last year, a huge increase on 2009. Spraying the walls of homes with insecticide is another effective means of reducing malaria.
Once infected, it is vital that treatment begins quickly. Rapid diagnostic tests are being increasingly used. These detect the presence of malaria parasites in the blood, often via a simple finger-prick test. The use of artemisinin-based combination therapies has transformed the treatment of the disease in the past decade. Children who are seriously ill can make a dramatic and rapid recovery after just a couple of days of taking the drug. changed and the risk of dying from malaria has fallen by a third in a decade."
Yes, things are changing, but 655,000 is still an unacceptable number. One day, with our help, it could be zero.
So what can we do to help?
World Malaria Day events will be coming up on April 25 (mark it on your calendars), but there is plenty we can do before then.
There are websites you should visit and videos to share. Spread the word through your social networks:
Global Malaria Action Plan Roll Back Malaria (RBM)
End Malaria Now
Malaria No More
We’re determined to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015—and we’re helping the world get it done. Malaria No More leverages high-impact awareness campaigns to engage the world, global advocacy to rally leadership and strategic investments in Africa to accelerate progress, build capacity and save lives.
Nothing But Nets
Nothing But Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to fight malaria, a leading cause of death among children in Africa. Nothing But Nets provides everyone – students to CEOs, bishops to basketball players – the opportunity to join the fight against malaria by giving $10 to send a net and save a life.
We are the Netroots, and we can become NetVocates.
Got ten dollars?
Save a child's life.
It's that simple.