Malaria

   


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Malaria
Malaria is a leading killer of children under five and a major contributor to adult morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 300 million cases and more than one million deaths occur each year. An estimated 10,000 women and 200,000 infants die annually due to malaria infection, and severe malarial anemia accounts for more than half of these deaths.

Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transmitted through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. Individuals infected with the parasite that causes malaria may experience several weeks or months of poor health, and children and pregnant women are less likely to recover than adults who have built up some immunity to the disease. Symptoms include fevers with chills, headache, back pain, sweating, weakness, nausea and anemia.

Malaria disproportionately affects people living in poverty (see Maps 2 and 3). For adults who survive malarial attacks social and economic consequences include low productivity and depression.

Because of malaria's pervasiveness, combating malaria is an important poverty reduction strategy. Transmission may be prevented through the use of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying with insecticides. Malarial disease can be prevented with prophylactic anti-malarial drugs. Those who have been infected with the malaria parasite can be treated with relatively inexpensive anti-malarial drugs where available and affordable. However, drug resistance to the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine has, in some regions, rendered them virtually ineffective.