This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Thursday, 19 December 2024
Malaria: A Growth Area
Globally, in 2023, there were 263 million cases of malaria. Six hundred thousand people (predominantly young children) died. This death rate from malarial infections, constituted a rise for the fifth consective year. The protozoan parasite, is showing increased resistance to anti-malarial drugs. Its mosquito vector, is also becoming less responsive to insecticides. The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) opines, however, that a funding shortfall was the major driver of increased malarial deaths in 2023. Climate and humanitarian disasters (wars, droughts and famines) are hampering effective control efforts (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/11/global-health-deaths-malaria-rise-drug-insecticide-resistance-climate-crisis-funding-un). Perhaps the recently developed and trialled vaccines against malaria will help? It currently seems likely, however, malaria will remain a major scourge in poorer global regions. This long-established disease certainly attracts less funding/investment than ailments that directly impact the populations of 'developed' nations.
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