Malaria Prevention Among Children in Africa

Malaria Prevention Among Children in Africa

The objective of this study is to examine malaria prevention among children in Africa. Malaria is the third biggest killer of children on a global scale and is a disease that is completely preventable and treatable, and according to UNICEF this makes all deaths due to malaria unacceptable. (2013, paraphrased) The primary cause of the death of children under the age of five years of age in the West African Ivory Coast is that of Malaria according to UNICEF (2013).

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread, to people through bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes, which are referred to as malaria vectors known to bite primarily between dusk and dawn. Four parasite species that result in malaria in humans are the following:

(1) Plasmodium falciparum;

(2) Plasmodium vivax;

(3) Plasmodium malariae;

(4) Plasmodium ovale. (WHO, 2013, p.1)

The most common of these are Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. The most deadly of the four is Plasmodium falciparum. (WHO, 2013, paraphrased) It is reported that in recent years Plasmodium knowlesi has caused cases of malaria in humans originally occurring in South-East Asian forests and specifically in monkeys. (WHO, 2013, paraphrased)

Symptoms

Symptoms of Malaria include vomiting, headache and fever approximately ten to fifteen days following the mosquito bite. When malaria goes untreated, it can become life threatening as it disrupts the supply of blood to the body's vital organs. (World Health Organization, 2012, paraphrased)

Transmission

Transmission of Malaria is reported as dependent on climatic conditions, which are known to affect the number and survival of mosquitoes including: (1) rainfall patterns; (2) temperature; and (3) humidity. (WHO, 2013) Transmission is seasonal reported to peak prior to and following a rainy season. Epidemics of malaria occur when the climate combined with other conditions are favorable for transmission in areas where individuals have little and even no immunity to malaria. Individuals develop partial immunity after years of exposure although they never become immune. It is because of the partial immunity developed by adults that young children are those most likely to be at risk for malaria. Disease and death can be prevented through earlier diagnosis and treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment additionally reduces the transmission of malaria.

Treatment

Treatment is reported to be artenisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). It is recommended by the World Health Organization that all cases of potential malaria be confirmed by testing using diagnostic testing that is parasite-based. This can be done through microscopy or rapid diagnostic test. Treatment is solely based on symptoms that can be considered in the case that a parasitological diagnosis is impossible.

Life Cycle of Malaria

The life cycle of Malaria begins when an infected female Anopheles mosquito injects sporozites into the skin while the mosquito is feeding on the human's blood. After this sporozoites enter the individual's blood stream and travel to the liver and liver cells become infected. The parasites develop within the liver cells into schizonts. The schizonts rupture, and release the individual merozorites into the bloodstream by the thousands. Merozoites infect the red blood cells and the cycle of illness begins in the human blood. When an uninfected mosquito bites the individual that mosquito becomes infected and carries the malaria to others infecting them.

Challenges & Research Needs

The World Health Organization reports that an ongoing problem is resistance to drugs used to fight malaria. In fact, the medicines used to treat malaria including cholorquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) which has reversed the gains realized in survival of children. The World Health Organization reports that vector control is the best method of protecting against malaria including two specific forms of vector control stated to include insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) and Indoor spraying with residual insecticides (IRS).

Vector control is dependent on using pyrethroids, stated as the only insecticide class recommended for use with ITNs or LLINs. The World Health Organization additionally reports that there are ongoing efforts for developing new insecticides as an alternative to the ones presently being used. In 2007, the Carter Center's Malaria Control Program was launched in partnership with the national Ethiopian and Nigerian programs focused on the prevention and treatment of malaria. There is a great need for research in the area of prevention of malaria due to the high rates of transmission of the disease.

Alternative Methods of Dealing with Malaria in Africa

In 2011 the work of McNeil reports that there has been proposed a new method of fighting malaria and specifically the use of a deworming pill that is cheap and that has been used for one-quarter of a decade fighting what is known as river blindness. This pill, when swallowed by an individual results in the mosquito that bites the individual to die. The medication is invermectin or Mectizan. The problem is getting everyone to take it at the same time and it wears off in on month's time so it would have to be repeated each month. The drug is also lethal to some individuals.