2005 James Gathany, Frank Collins This photograph depicts a Anopheles funestus mosquito partaking in a blood meal from its human host. Note the blood passing through the proboscis, which has penetrated the skin, and entered a miniscule cutaneous blood vessel. The Anopheles funestus mosquito, which along with Anopheles gambiae, is one of the two most important malaria vectors in Africa, where more than 80% of the world's malarial disease and deaths occurs. Humans infected with malaria parasites can develop a wide range of symptoms. These vary from asymptomatic infections, i.e., no apparent illness, to the classic symptoms of malaria including fever, chills, sweating, headaches, muscle pains, to severe complications such as cerebral malaria, anemia, and kidney failure, and even death. The severity of the symptoms depends on several factors, including the species of infecting parasite, and the infected humanís acquired immunity and genetic background.
To mark World Malaria Day, UNICEF has tasked Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries on the increasing cases of malaria in these countries.
UNICEF revealed that Rwanda and Nigeria saw an increase of over 1.5 million cases of malaria in 2016.
The UN agency said: “Four out of five malaria deaths occur in one of 15 countries, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, with more than one in three deaths in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo only.
“Progress on malaria is beginning to show signs of stagnation. In 2016, 91 countries reported a combined total of 216 million malaria cases – five million more than in 2015.
“Rwanda and Nigeria together saw an increase of over 1.5 million cases, while DRC recorded an additional 500,000 cases in 2015 to 2016”.
According to the UN agency, an estimated 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 407,000 deaths in 2016.
“Four out of five malaria deaths occur in one of 15 countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Mozambique, Ghana, Angola, Uganda, Mali, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, Niger, Guinea and Chad.
“More than one in three malaria deaths occur in two countries: Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNICEF has a country office in all of these countries,” UNICEF said.
The UN agency warned that progress on global malaria control was slipping, with cases on the increase.
It reported that every two minutes, a child dies of malaria, adding although preventable and treatable, malaria remains, in many regions of the world, a major public health problem.
UNICEF added that 91 countries currently experience ongoing malaria transmission and in 2016 alone, 216 million new cases were reported, and approximately 445,000 people died of the disease – most of them children.
The Director-General of WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, warned in his video message for the Day: “The latest data from WHO show that the global malaria response is at a crossroads”.
“If we continue along this path, we will lose the gains for which we have fought so hard,” the WHO chief added.
Ghebreyesus explained that the declining trend in malaria cases and deaths had stalled, and vital funding for malaria programmes had flatlined.
The 2018 theme of the Day is “Ready to Beat Malaria.”
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