Recent statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that, Malaria is still the leading killer disease on the African continent. It is a tropical disease that is responsible for the death of over 2 million people every year. And the most vulnerable groups are pregnant women and children below the age of five.
Female Anopheles mosquito is the major vector of the disease. It breeds in dirty, stagnant waters and unkempt environment. The malaria parasite; plasmodium, is transmitted through mosquito bites. The parasite is borne in the saliva of the female Anopheles mosquito that sucks blood, and in the process it deposits the plasmodium into the blood stream of its victim.
Malaria parasite hatches and multiple within the liver of its victims and later spreads into other vital organs. Victims of Malaria come down with intense feverish condition, lack of appetite for food and drink, vomiting and dehydration.
Pregnant women and children are mostly affected by malaria because of their relatively weaker immunity.
Governments in Africa and other tropical countries in collaboration with WHO and Non Governmental Organizations have adopted several measures of curtailing the menace of the scourge. The most prominent measure is the substitution of Quinine with a combination of anti malarial drugs known as ACT considered more effective. And the introduction of chemically treated mosquito nets.
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