An anopheles mosquito. The female anopheles mosquitoes are responsible for malaria transmission. PHOTO | FILE
Mozambique needs $100 million every year to effectively fight malaria, a health official said Thursday.
Mr
Baltazar Candrinho, the Ministry of Health’s director of Malaria
Control, said the money would be put in prevention programmes.
He was speaking during the National Malaria Forum in the capital Maputo on Thursday.
He said at least two to three people die of the mosquito-borne disease every day in the country.
Last year, malaria killed 1,114 people with nine million cases recorded.
Mozambique targets to reduce the number of malaria cases and deaths by 40 per cent by the year 2022.
The country of some 24 million people is among the poorest in the world with a majority living on less than $1 a day.
According
to the World Health Organisation, Africa accounts for 91 per cent of
global malaria cases and 93 per cent of malaria-related deaths.
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MALARIA FACTS
● Cause
Malaria
is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted
to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It
is preventable and curable.
P. falciparum is the most
prevalent malaria parasite on the African continent. It is responsible
for most malaria-related deaths globally.
● Transmission
Transmission
depends on climatic conditions that may affect the number and survival
of mosquitoes, such as rainfall patterns, temperature and humidity.
In many places, transmission is seasonal, with the peak during and just after the rainy season.
Malaria
epidemics can occur when climate and other conditions suddenly favour
transmission in areas where people have little or no immunity to
malaria.
They can also occur when people with low immunity move into areas with intense malaria transmission.
● Symptoms
In a non-immune individual, symptoms usually appear 10–15 days after the infective mosquito bite.
The first symptoms – fever, headache, and chills– may be mild and difficult to recognise as malaria.
If not treated within 24 hours, P. falciparum malaria can progress to severe illness, often leading to death.
Children
with severe malaria frequently develop one or more of the following
symptoms: severe anaemia, respiratory distress in relation to metabolic
acidosis, or cerebral malaria.
In adults, multi-organ
involvement is also frequent. In malaria endemic areas, people may
develop partial immunity, allowing asymptomatic infections to occur.
● Who is at risk?
Some
population groups are at considerably higher risk of contracting
malaria, and developing severe disease, than others. These include
infants, children under 5 years of age, pregnant women and patients with
HIV/AIDS, as well as non-immune migrants, mobile populations and
travellers.
● Prevention
- Use insecticide-treated mosquito nets
- Indoor residual spraying with insecticides
- Antimalarial medicines
- Vaccines against malaria
(Source: World Health Organisation)
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