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(Impacts of population growth - apes sham cram)
Background
Background
Malaria is the leading cause of death in Africa and is especially prominent in Uganda and Ghana (Paronia, 2017). Malaria affects 300 to 500 million people worldwide and over one million people die from the disease each year (Teklehaimanot and Mejia, 2008). 90% of cases and 75% of deaths from malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa (Teklehaimanot and Mejia, 2008). In 2015, Uganda had 10.3 million new infections and Ghana had 8.8 million new infections, the highest number of cases in the world. (Paronia, 2017).
Infection is due to bites from infected female mosquitoes, Anopheles gambiae, and is diagnosed by antigen blood tests (Paronia, 2017). Most infections are caused by a parasite called Plasmodium falciparum (Teklehaimanot and Mejia, 2008). Some common symptoms of malaria include chills, headache, vomiting, and fever. Delays in treatment often cause death (Paronia, 2017).
Malaria is prominent in countries with extreme poverty and temperate climates (Teklehaimanot and Mejia, 2008). Many people do not have the money to protect against mosquitoes and if they are infected, they don't have the money to pay for the healthcare or medications (Paronia, 2017). Malaria infections are more frequent in children, especially those less than five years old, who are extremely malnourished, and little to no schooling is associated with less knowledge and prevention strategies of malaria (Teklehaimanot and Mejia, 2008). Malaria also affects pregnant women frequently, during pregnancy women lose their immunity to the disease and contract malaria, which leads to low birth weight babies and maternal anemia (Teklehaimanot and Mejia, 2008).
Some resources in Africa to address Malaria include health advocacy groups led by local society groups. One of these groups is called Friends Africa. This non-profit group uses Nollywood stars and soccer players to educate the public about malaria (Ikemba, 2014). End Malaria Councils are being introduced at a country level and countries are establishing national malaria funds to provide resources for malaria eradication. Countries are also working to help by locally manufacturing mosquito nets and insecticides to help protect against malaria (African leaders recommit to increase domestic resources to eliminate malaria by 2030).
Agencies
Agencies
NGO
NGO
One NGO that has a top priority to help eradicate malaria is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Their specific mission is stated best on their website, “we fight malaria by working to expand access to existing tools, using data to better track and target the disease, advancing research on potentially transformative innovations, and advocating for others to join in the effort to end malaria” (Malaria: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). This foundation's main source is funding that stems from Bill Gates’ own personal wealth and it also receives annual installments from Warren Buffett. The foundation spends the largest majority of their budget on various global developmental and health projects. The foundation also pays its employees a salary, insurance, and retirement (Malaria: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
Figure 1
Sum funding for malaria research in sub-Saharan africa, by country and funder, for 1997-2013
(Head et al., 2017, p.777)
Another NGO that also makes great waves with a mission to eradicate malaria is an organization named Against Malaria foundation. The funding they receive goes to providing long-lasting insecticidal nets to communities that are at risk. The foundation receives its funding from individuals and groups of people that hold fundraising events or even people that simply go to the site to donate. They use 100% of the funds raised to buy and provide the long-lasting insecticidal nets. The foundation determines who will receive the funds by analyzing which areas have the greatest malaria problem and also the greatest needs for nets. (Against malaria)
Figure 2
Overview of who supports and how the Against Malaria Foundation operates
(Against malaria)
Government Organization
Government Organization
A government organization dedicated to the fight against malaria is the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI). The mission of this organization is to decrease the number of deaths associated with malaria with the eradication of malaria being their main goal. The PMI distributes many different resources to the people of its partnered nations, which accounts for about 90% of global malaria cases. Some of the resources they provide include treated mosquito nets, insecticide spraying, rapid diagnostic tests, artemisinin-based combination therapy, intermittent preventative treatment in pregnancy, and seasonal malaria chemoprevention. This organization also invests in research for new methods to combat malaria and monitors and evaluates the progress and impact of their programs. The PMI receives its funding from Congress, in which $770 million in USAID was approved for the fiscal year of 2020. In addition, PMI works in close collaboration with its partner countries, and its investments are aligned with each countries malaria control plan to help build local capacity and strengthen local health systems. Advantages to some of the resources the PMI provides are that some are relatively inexpensive but very effective. Mosquito nets are inexpensive and can protect multiple people at once, however, mosquito nets can be easily damaged decreasing their effectiveness. The preventative therapies that PMI provides are also effective, however, they can require multiple doses to provide maximum protection and can be expensive.
(U.S. President's Malaria Initiative)
Faith-Based Organization
Faith-Based Organization
One faith-based organization that is helping to fight malaria is the Episcopal Relief & Development NetsforLife program. This organization has partnered with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) in order to be able to provide mosquito nets to 21 countries in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. Their mission statement is as stated, "the goal of this partnership is to decrease sickness and death due to malaria, build local organizations' capacity to mobilize their communities against this disease, and strengthen connections across faith denominations, sectors and countries in order to share knowledge and develop best practices." This organization started its partnership in 2010. More recently the NetsforLife and UMCOR has partnered with the Maternal and Child Health Campaign in Sierra Leone and were successful in distributing around 400,000 nets and had roughly 3,800 volunteers. This organization receives its funding through grassroots campaigns held in schools, seminaries, churches, and other large institutions.
Recommendations
Recommendations
All of the recommended malaria agencies aid tremendously in decreasing, or completely eradicating the incidence of malaria. The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is finically supported by Bill Gates himself making it a trusted, creditable source of money that goes to global development and health projects. The Against Malaria foundation is also essential as it uses 100% of its profits to provide insecticidal nets to high risk communities. This foundation is supported and partners with highly reliable organizations and companies such as Unicef, Attenda, and Microsoft. While the nets provide a great protective barrier, it could be beneficial to use a portion of the profits for research and projects. The PMI (President’s Malaria Initiative) has proven over the years to be an effective organization. The PMI organization has provided over 82 million insecticide nets, 140 million anti-malarial treatments, and over 60 million rapid diagnostic kits. Since 2006, this organization has decreased the incidence of malaria cases by 29% and death rates by 60%. Each one of these organizations are trusted and beneficial in moving forward to decrease the rate of malaria worldwide. If we had to pick one organization to fund, it would be the PMI (President's Malaria Initiative). This organization already has ties with many countries and is able to contribute largely with mosquito nets, treatments, sprays, rapid tests as well as researching Malaria.
References
References
Against malaria. The Against Malaria Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.againstmalaria.com/.
African leaders recommit to increase domestic resources to eliminate malaria by 2030. African leaders recommit to increase domestic resources to eliminate Malaria by 2030 | RBM Partnership to End Malaria. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://endmalaria.org/news/african-leaders-recommit-increase-domestic-resources-eliminate-malaria-2030.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation . (n.d.). Malaria: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/programs/global-health/malaria.
Faith-based organizations partner to fight malaria. Episcopal Relief & Development. (2020, January 27). Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.episcopalrelief.org/press-resources/faith-based-organizations-partner-to-fight-malaria/.
Head, M. G., Goss, S., Gelister, Y., Alegana, V., Brown, R. J., Clarke, S. C., Fitchett, J. R., Atun, R., Scott, J. A., Newell, M.-L., Padmadas, S. S., & Tatem, A. J. (2017). Global funding trends for malaria research in sub-saharan africa: A systematic analysis. The Lancet Global Health, 5(8). https://doi.org/10.1016/s2214-109x(17)30245-0
Home - PMI - president's malaria initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://www.pmi.gov/.
Ikemba, A. A. (2014). What African governments can do to fight malaria. World Economic Forum. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/04/african-governments-can-fight-malaria/.
Impacts of population growth - apes sham-cram. Google Sites. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://sites.google.com/site/apesshamcram/population/human-population/impacts-of-population-growth.
Pariona, A. (2017, April 25). Countries with the highest rates of malaria. WorldAtlas. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-highest-rates-of-malaria.html.
Teklehaimanot, A., Mejia, P. (2008). Malaria and poverty. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136(1), 32–37. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1425.037
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