Malaria in Africa
Every year, as many as three million people, most of whom are in Africa, die of malaria. Most of these deaths are preventable. Bed nets, if a family is lucky enough to have them, can protect against infectious mosquito bites. Antimalarial drugs can combat the disease itself, if one lives in an area where they are readily available.
As Jeffrey Sachs explains in The End of Poverty, the root causes of malaria in Africa are mainly ecological. The most common species of mosquito in Africa bites humans almost exclusively. A mosquito must bite two humans in a row to transmit malaria from one to the other. Other species of mosquito, which feed on cattle and other animals as well as humans, won’t spread malaria as efficiently (for lack of a better word). Also, the warm climate speeds up malaria’s life cycle, which in turn quickens the spread of the disease.
As a result, 1-3 million people die of malaria every year. Hundreds of millions more become severely ill. Economies that are already struggling slow down even more, trapping millions in poverty.
If the percentages were the same in the United States, 100 million Americans would become severely ill over the course of a year, and 600,000 people would die. (Very rough estimates, but you get the idea.) I would say “per year,” but it wouldn’t happen more than once. After the first outbreak, the vast majority of the country would have the bed nets and medicines necessary to safeguard against malaria, and logistical obstacles be damned.
This has not happened in Africa. As of 2004, only about 2% of African children under the age of 5 were sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets. Given that a net protecting two people for two years costs $10 (or even $5, depending on who you ask), I think we can do better.
What you can do
- Every time you play the interactive game “Deliver the Net” at the Nothing But Nets website, a sponsor will send a bed net to Africa.
- Or you could just buy a net yourself, either through Nothing But Nets ($10/net) or Against Malaria ($5/net).
- April 25 is World Malaria Day. If you’re on Facebook, sign up to “attend” and invite your friends. The event is purely online - fear not, you won’t have to leave your computer chair - but if enough invitations circulate, it’ll at least increase awareness, and maybe some people who wouldn’t have bought a net otherwise will be moved to do so.
- The founder of the World Malaria Day Facebook event is also promoting Project Blackout - make your profile picture solid black for a day on April 25, raise awareness about malaria. I’m not sure how effective this will be (I think the black profile pics should at least have a caption or something), but I’ll be participating, so you should, too.
Sources
- The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (Penguin Books, 2005). He discusses malaria in Chapter 10; the whole book is well worth reading.
- World Health Organization fact sheet on malaria
- “Conquering the Intolerable Burden of Malaria” by J. G. Bremen et al. in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, August 2004.
