World Malaria Day: ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’
APRIL
25 is observed as World Malaria Day. Instituted in 2007 by the World Health Assembly, World Malaria Day aims to provide education and understanding of malaria as a global health burden that is preventable and curable.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by a plasmodium parasite that is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito which is the cause of more than one million death each year. The early symptoms of malaria include increasing head ache followed by shaking chills, rigors, and high fever. Some infected persons may experience anxiety, vomitting, chest pain, cough, nausea, restlessness, and delirium. There are five types of Malaria. The most deadly is plasmodium falciparum which can develop complications such as hymolyticanema, pulmonary problem, kidney failure, altered mental status, multiple seizures which can result in coma and death. The most common type of malaria is plasmodium vivax which can develop anemia and rupture of the spleen. The incubation period is 12-18 days. Infected person of this type may have relapse several months after the initial illness due to the presence of hypnozoites in the liver.
Plasmodium ovalecan result in anemia, but this type of infection is rarely fatal. It has an incubation period of 18-40 days. plasmodium malariae is not life-threatening but can lead to kidney failure. It has an incubation period of 2-4 weeks. The last type, plasmodium knowlesi, can be transmitted from monkeys to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. This is considered a rare disease.
All of us are at risk of malaria but the most vulnerable groups are the poor, young children, people with HIV/AIDS, non-immune travelers, pregnant women, and elderly people. Although malaria is life-threatening, it is preventable and and curable if diagnosed and treated at an early stage. Some measures that can be done especially between dusk and dawn include: remaining in well-screened areas, using insecticide-treated mosquito nets, wearing clothes that cover most of the body, indoor residual spraying, and avoiding travel to areas where malaria is common.
This year’s host city of World Malaria Day is Paris in France. The theme, Zero Malaria Starts with Me, focuses on empowering individuals across the world to make a personal commitment to save millions of people from dying and help communities and economies to thrive by ending malaria.
Let the observance of World Malaria Day be an opportunity for us to do our individual share in the prevention and eradication of malaria.