Today is World Malaria Day, and since this is a matter of international importance, I proudly present to you my first English blog entry!
I signed up on Twitter a few weeks ago in order to have some English “distribution” on the net besides my Facebook page, which I only use for private matters (read: Spreading stupid jokes). But let’s be honest here for a second: Getting me to shut up after only 140 characters is pretty much impossible. At least when it comes to important topics like the Malaria issue.
About 2,5 Mio. people die from Malaria each year. 75% of them are African children, most of them under 5 years old.
I lived in West-Africa for some 1 1/2 years, and before this time I never really thought about Malaria and the problems it is causing in many parts of this world. Because I never had to deal with it.
Before our trip we got vaccines for pretty much everything: Yellow fever, typhus fever, hepatitis… but eliminating the Malaria risk is much harder then getting a shot in the bum. There is no vaccine. Malaria is caused by single-celled parasites, that reach the human body through the sting of the (infected) female Anopheles mosquito. The human body functions as secondary host – with every new sting of an infected person, more mosquitos catch an spread the disease.
About two weeks after our arrival, my boyfriend got really sick. Within a few hours he went from “everything is totally fine” to some 40°c of fever. He couldn’t move, he was in terrible pain, and days later, after he went trough the toughest time, he even told me he thought he was going to die. Fortunately for us: We had medicine. Malarone, to be exact. The problem: One treatment is about € 80,00. This is more than an average monthly wage in many parts of the countries facing this insidious disease. There is cheaper medicine from China available, but with about € 15,00 it is still a lot of money, and I heard many people telling stories about how the medication failed. Malarone is also used as prophylaxis, but it is not only way to expensive to solve this problem globally (about € 6 per day and person); it is also very damaging to the internal organs, and it is highly recommended to avoid taking it for more than 4 weeks.
The pharmaceutical industry is searching for a vaccine, and there are some promising results raising the hope for a future cure, but right now, people are still very helpless in this battle. One reason might be that the pharmaceutical industry is said to be spending much more money on research in fields as erection problems or hair loss – because customers of those fields promise a much higher revenue.
So is there anything that can be done?
The best way to not only help yourself, but also helping to stop the disease from spreading, is to avoid getting stung. Light, covering clothes, Indoor sprays and insect repellents are very helpful. But there is one thing proven to be the most effective protection: Insecticide-treated mosquito nets. They cost about $ 3 a piece, and they offer protection for a very long time. Even if the Insecticide washes off after some time, the net itself still keeps the dangerous mosquitos away.
With contributing one net for a few bucks, you have a very high chance of actually saving someones life. Making a tremendous change has never been easier.
Please support WHO and other institutions of your trust and join the battle against Malaria. Thank you.