Malaria

carried by the
Anopheles Mosquito

A killer of around
500,000 people a
year
 Spatial distribution of Malaria

Successful eradication of Malaria from

Southern Europe, USA and Taiwan.

Temp of between
Malaria was spread to The
16 32c for
Americas from Africa by the
parasite to
Slave Trade.
develop.
Distribution
of Malaria in
Africa
Spatial Diffusion of Malaria
How is the disease of Malaria spread around?
 Spatial Diffusion of Malaria
Malaria is an example of contagious diffusion.

The disease is spread from one host to the

next by direct contact. In the case of Malaria
the direct contact is with an infected
Anopheles mosquito.
 KEY TERMS
Pathogen Micro-organism which causes a disease.

Vector Is an organism which can spread disease by

carrying a pathogen from one host to another.

Anopheles mosquito is a vector. It transmits the malaria

pathogen plasmodium to humans.

The mosquito is unaffected by Malaria.

The female Anopheles mosquito needs blood for its eggs to

grow before they become larvae.
 Where do Anopheles mosquitoes
live?
Temp 16c to 32c So mainly tropical areas of
altitude below 2500m
Mosquito larvae grows in stagnant water.
Particularly swamps, near rivers, irrigated fields,
open water storage.
Relatives carry a young Yanomami girl, seriously ill with cerebral malaria, from a field clinic
to an aeroplane for transfer to a hospital. WHO/TDR/Mark Edwards.
A young girl experiencing a clinical attack of malaria in a Health
Centre in The Gambia. WHO/TDR/Dr Steven Lindsay.
http://www.internewskenya.org/datapor
tal/categorylist/11
 The fight against Malaria
Attack the breeding grounds

Vector control (Killing mosquitoes and

stopping mosquitoes biting people)

Treatment (Medical treatment for Malaria

victims)

Possible vaccine?

BBC documentary in Kenya

 Documentary highlighting man's interminable fight against malaria, a disease which kills millions every year
and which is continuing to worsen.
Filmed on three continents over eighteen months, it delivers an up-to-date account of the global malaria
situation from the perspectives of a few heroic individuals, each fighting their own very different battles
against the disease.
The film reveals the harsh realities of malaria within a rural Kenyan village community, telling the story of
Peter Kombo, chief of Kiagware village in the Kisii highlands, as he battles through the malaria season.
Many of his villagers, particularly the young, are dangerously sick, and Chief Kombo struggles to get more
help for them from the local authorities, without success. Unable to afford transport to their district hospital,
the people of Kiagware turn instead to local herbalists and to untrained doctors for treatment.
These quacks can wrongly prescribe western drugs, sometimes with fatal consequences, so Chief Kombo is
faced with a deadly dilemma - to stop them treating altogether and leave his people no hope at all, or allow
them to continue and risk more deaths.
The desperate case of the Mauti family highlights just how difficult Chief Kombo's task is. Touched by their
plight, he borrows money to pay for their son Walter to be taken to hospital. It comes just in time, as one more
day without treatment could have cost Walter's life. But as Chief Kombo points out, he cannot pay for
everyone in the village, and not long after Walter returns from hospital he has malaria again.
This 2009 update includes a brief report of the changes in the village and attitudes to malaria as a direct result
of the transmission in the UK of the original film.
 Malaria vector control measures

Reduction of human-mosquito contact

Insecticide-treated nets, repellents, protective clothing, screening
of houses,

Destruction of adult mosquitoes

Insecticide-treated nets, Insecticide spraying,

Destruction of mosquito larvae

Larviciding of water surfaces, intermittent irrigation, biological control

Source reduction
Small-scale drainage Environmental sanitation, water management, drainage

Social participation
Motivation for personal Health education, and family protection community
participation

WHO Technical Report 2005

Insecticide-impregnated bednet trials are underway in Nane-Janania village near
Navrongo, Ghana. Drying the nets on sleeping mats also helps to kill any insects in
the mat. WHO/TDR/Ane Haaland.
Ronei do Silva Rodrigues and his migrant parents in Candeias township close to
Porto Velho, Brazil, habitually sleep under bednets to avoid being bitten by
mosquitoes. WHO/TDR/Mark Edwards.
Insecticide Treated Mosquito Bed Nets Kampala Uganda
 Treatment
There are a variety of quinine based anti-
malaria drugs which can prevent Malaria
developing even if you are bitten, although
drug resistance is increasingly a problem
especially with Chloroquine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38796337
A farmer in Uganda looks over his field of Artemesia.
Chinese Scientists have discovered that the Artemesia
herb can be processed into a drug (Artemesinin
Combination Therapies ACTs) that can treat malaria
and save thousands of lives each day in Africa.
 9 December 2014
Halving of malaria deaths tremendous achievement
Global efforts have halved the number of people dying from malaria - a tremendous achievement,
the World Health Organization says.
It says between 2001 and 2013, 4.3 million deaths were averted, 3.9 million of which were children
under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa.
Each year, more people are being reached with life-saving malaria interventions, the WHO says.
In 2004, 3% of those at risk had access to mosquito nets, but now 50% do.
Villagers from the Highlands in Papua New Guinea NG have been trained to detect and treat the
disease in the community
There has been a scaling up of diagnostic testing, and more people now are able to receive
medicines to treat the parasitic infection, which is spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes.
An increasing number of countries are moving towards malaria elimination.
In 2013, two countries - Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka - reported zero indigenous cases for the first
time, and 11 others (Argentina, Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Oman,
Paraguay, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) succeeded in maintaining zero cases.
In Africa, where 90% of all malaria deaths occur, infections have decreased significantly.
 Final thoughts
Increasing international travel and trade.
Problems of resistance to drugs and lack of
funding (http://www.bbc.com/news/health-
38796337) .
Increasing human habitation and irrigated
agriculture.
Affect of climate change.
Impact of the MDGs
Can the SDGs help in the fight against malaria?
SDG 3.3 By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS,
tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and
combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other
communicable diseases
 Target 6.C:
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the
incidence of malaria and other major diseases
Between 2000 and 2015, the substantial expansion of malaria
interventions led to a 58 per cent decline in malaria mortality rates
globally.
Since 2000, over 6.2 million deaths from malaria were averted,
primarily in children under five years of age in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Due to increased funding, more children are sleeping under
insecticide-treated bed nets in sub-Saharan Africa.
Tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment interventions have
saved some 37 million lives between 2000 and 2013.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2015/jun/18/millennium-development-goal-6-15-
achievements-on-hiv-and-malaria
 The number of malaria deaths globally fell from an estimated 839
000 in 2000 (range: 653 0001.1 million), to 438 000 in 2015
(range: 236 000635 000), a decline of 48%.
Most deaths in 2015 were in the WHO African Region (90%),
followed by the WHO South-East Asia Region (7%) and the
WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (2%). The malaria mortality
rate, which takes into account population growth, is estimated to
have decreased by 60% globally between 2000 and 2015. Thus,
substantial progress has been made towards the World Health
Assembly target of reducing the malaria burden by 75% by 2015,
and the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership target of reducing
deaths to near zero.
 Malaria parasite sucked
up by the female
Anopheles mosquito when
it bites an infected person. Parasite spores
form in the gut of
mosquito.
Merozoites pour from the
liver and breed in Red
blood cells, damaging
them and causing ill Malaria spores
health possibly death. injected into
another human by
mosquito bite.
Pass through
blood to the liver.
Each spore develops
into 20,000
merozoites

J Gillett 2005