Africa is ready to wipe out malaria

Over half a million (627, 000) people die from malaria each year, mostly children younger than five years old.

Malaria claims the lives of 453,000 children per year, 90% of those in Africa. That’s 1,300 kids who lose their lives to a mosquito bite every day.

Despite being preventable and treatable, malaria continues to have a devastating impact on people’s health and livelihoods around the world. According to the latest estimates released in December 2014 by the World Health Organisation, there were about 198 million cases of malaria in 2013 ,with an uncertainty range of 124 million to 283 million and an estimated 584 000 deaths, with an uncertainty range of 367 000 to 755 000.

In countries where Malaria is pandemic, it mostly affects the poor and disadvantaged community who cannot access proper medical facilities or afford medicine and other prevention tools.

The fight against this disease has been going on for years and to date, efforts are still being made to make Africa a Malaria-free continent. Not all adult cases of malaria are fatal but the disease keeps adults out of work and robs families off disposable income. Malaria costs Africa an estimated $12 billion a year in lost productivity.

Although malaria is one of the top child killers in the planet, the sixty-eighth world health assembly provisional agenda states that, since 2000, eight countries have eliminated malaria and many others have reduced transmission to low levels. The knowledge gained from these efforts will be informative in designing programmes in the future. Technological advances, innovations in medicines, vaccines and vector control are the new tools expected to create additional impact in the next 15 years.

Although the number of malaria deaths has fallen to 58% among children under the age of five, the World Health Organization urges everyone to continue practicing basic prevention strategies like draining stagnant water, cutting overgrown grass and sleeping under a treated mosquito net thus creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night. It will also ensure that people get the timely treatment.

Scientists and organizations around the world are working together to accelerate the development of a malaria vaccine and ensure its availability in the developing world. The fight against Malaria has been intensified here in Kenya where Reckitt Benckiser recently launched an ongoing online campaign dubbed #WipeOutMalaria riding on their effective mosquito killer Mortein Doom.

The campaign  is aimed at engaging the online audience to join the fight against malaria. Expectant women take pictures of their baby bumps and using the hash tag #WipeOutMalaria, share them online. The participant with the most re-tweets and / or Facebook likes will walk away with a fabulous, assorted gift hamper from Reckitt Benckiser, before the end of the campaign.