Malaria: One World

Malaria is by far one if not the deadliest diseases ever roaming around our globe. Already from the times of the dinosaurs, Malaria has caused the deaths of way too many creatures and humans every year, and more people have probably died of it than from any other catchable disease. About every tenth person who catches the disease ends up dying from it, especially children. Malaria is a major problem in the areas of Central and South America, Asia and Africa in which most of the deaths occur. But the problems don’t end there since Malaria has effect on everything in these countries.

So, what exactly is Malaria? Malaria is a mosquito-borne blood disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted to the human and animal hosts by the Anopheles mosquito. The human parasite, Plasmodium is deadly because it digests human red blood cells, but it also changes adhesive properties of the cell that it inhabits. The World Health Association has estimated that around 2.7 million people die because of Malaria every year and professors are working hard around to world to find better and more effective cures to lower down these death rates. Science cannot offer any perfect cure or prevention diseases making it also one of the most feared diseases around the world. Luckily, the best medication and treatment usually does work and as we keep developing the medicines we might get to a point were those full preventions might be possible. 3

If you are wondering if you have Malaria, the general symptoms are pretty noticeable but they are not always identifiable to be Malaria. Normal flu-type symptoms (like fever, headache, muscle ache etc.) are very common, but some stronger symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea can occur for some people. You can possibly get yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes because of the damage done to your red blood cells and your liver cells. The severe P. falciparum is a lot more dangerous and harmful, and the symptoms are much more extreme e.g. getting into shock. Since the symptoms of this Malaria are so much stronger, around 15-20% people who still receive the treatment for it end up dying. Luckily this number is growing smaller every year and problems revolving the disease keep getting smaller a bit by bit. As stated in the Malaria Control and it’s Effects on the Environment by the Environmental Studies, University of Aarhus, Spring 2001 page 11 and 12, “Malaria is not only a problem because of its deadly effect; families and small communities are affected in both educational, economical, and sociological ways by the costs caused by being ill and/or by losing family members. Malaria can cause poor school attendance and a lot of people experience economic loses because they cannot work (WHO, 1998).” these deaths have a lot of effect on people.

Malaria can be in your body for one to three weeks till its onset. Certain types of Malaria can take a lot longer and parasites may habit your body for even a year. The diagnosing of the disease is fairly easy and people who travel to the problematic countries are suggested to take a diagnosis test on their stay. It is very unfortunate that the disease roams around the poorer places of the world and therefore most people don’t have the money to get the proper diagnosis and cure. If you are planning on travelling to another country which is known to have a lot of Malaria, please make sure to contact the health department or any medical care information and you will probably be given some anti-Malarial drugs to prevent catching it. The bad thing about Malaria that there is no cure that can actually 100 percentile keep you from getting it and therefore you are always at risk, and I also personally think that if I would myself consider travelling somewhere, I wouldn’t go to one of these places where you have a lot of Malaria. Many people probably think alike and this leads again in fewer tourists damaging the economy.3

Treating Malaria is very specific to what type of Malaria it is. The more minor Malaria will require less treatment (oral treatment is very common) and side effects than the severe versions of the disease. All of these medications should be made so that they would be always ready to be given out and not so that people need to wait for them in danger of catching the disease. The treatment for Malaria is mostly drug treatment which can be very difficult since some parasites have been proven to been immune to some of the drugs. Some areas of the world have drug restrictions and therefore some people are not able to get the correct medicine for their disease even if it was right at hand. Pregnant women will also need drug treatment, but many of the possible cures are often dangerous for the fetus and therefore not allowed to be used by these women. Children on the other had should take anti-Malarial drugs even though their recommendations are the same as for adults. There have even been some protests about the laws guiding the malarial-drugs and this is a good example of the effects on society.1 

Malaria has a lot of affect on the poor countries and therefore also leads to much negative things involving the society and economy. Countries in which Malaria roams a lot will have a lot more difficulties in tourism and many countries have actually had to force some tourist offices into quitting or changing location thanks to the disease. This is very unfortunate for many people and has really done damage to some families that have depended on this business. Of course, decrease in tourism can directly affect all the other trade and exchange in the location and can have unbelievably large effects. Less tourism equals less people buying goods and this means less exchange for shops. 6

Animals can catch Malaria too and this can lead to damage in the environment. When some animals may die of the disease, other animals may not get to kill them for food and therefore a chain will be formed in which everybody eventually suffers. The disease may also create some conflicts in politics and in issues about the laws involving the drugs and their use, and therefore we can state that the disease affects all of the countries in almost every way. The littering from the drugs may damage the environment too.2 The culture changes because you have to watch out for different things and people need to live with a living danger, the only thing that I personally cannot find effect in is the ethics. Funds and associations like Unicef are currently working hard with us to raise money and send support for people who are being damaged by Malaria. By helping is individual one by one, the larger effects will eventually get smaller.

All in all, Malaria is clearly a very deadly and effective disease which has effect on the environment, people as individuals and as a whole, society, economy, politics and of course the culture. If you are reading this from a place where you have no fear of catching the disease, think for a moment at those people who have to go through the fear. We regular people cannot really make a huge difference or save peoples lives, but donating some money to a anti-Malarial fund is the least we can really do, and that’s why I have gathered two links in which this is possible.

Roll Back Malaria, Donate: http://www.rollbackMalaria.org/donate.html

Malaria No More! Donate: https://www.Malarianomore.org.uk/static/donate

Thank you for reading.