QUESTION Is there a vaccine for malaria? ANSWER No, as of yet there is not a vaccine available for malaria. The most promising vaccine candidate, RTS,S, which has been developed by GlaxoSmithKline, is currently undergoing Phase III trials in Africa. The trial is not due to finish until 2014, so we will have to wait until then to know how effective it is. Preliminary results, published … [Read more...]
Vaccine for Malaria
QUESTION Is there a vaccine to prevent malaria? ANSWER No, there is not currently a vaccine available to prevent malaria. The best current candidate, the RTS,S vaccine which was developed by GlaxoSmithKline, is currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials in Africa. Although preliminary results showed up to a 50% rate of protection against malaria in some age groups, the trials will not … [Read more...]
Distribution of Malaria
QUESTION Where does malaria mostly take place? ANSWER Malaria is mainly transmitted in tropical regions of the world; while some transmission does occur outside of the tropics, it tends to be seasonal in these areas (i.e. usually only during periods of high temperature/high rainfall). Within the tropics, malaria is found on all continents, though the highest number of cases is in Africa, … [Read more...]
How Many Malaria Deaths in Africa?
QUESTION What is the estimated number of deaths in Africa caused by malaria each year? ANSWER The exact numbers of deaths caused by malaria every year is very difficult to measure accurately, due to difficulties in diagnosis and also failure to report cases. However, the Roll Back Malaria partnership, coordinated by a host of international organisations including the World Health … [Read more...]
How many countries have malaria?
QUESTION How many countries are malaria infected? ANSWER As of 2010, there were 108 countries which were listed as having endemic malaria—that is, malaria which was transmitted within the country. This includes 43 countries in Africa, 10 countries in south-east Asia, 13 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean (which includes most of Central Asia and parts of North and East … [Read more...]
Malaria In Africa
QUESTION What factors cause Africans to get this disease? ANSWER The highest number of malaria cases every year occur in Africa, not because of anything specifically due to the people living there (in fact, they may be better protected against malaria than most—I will come onto this later) but because malaria transmission is very high in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa and … [Read more...]
Mobile Phone Text Messaging: Tool for Malaria Control in Africa
Across many malaria-endemic areas in rural Africa, the communication gap between managers, health workers, and patients is a significant barrier to efficient malaria control. The rapid expansion of mobile network coverage and the widespread availability of basic handsets have the potential to substantively bridge the communication gap. Text messaging, as the least-expensive mobile phone function … [Read more...]
Malaria in Africa
QUESTION What is the current problem for malaria in Africa? ANSWER Malaria is a particularly severe problem in Africa due to a number of reasons. First of all, transmission in many parts of Africa occurs year round, due to favourable conditions for the development of the mosquitoes malaria requires as its vector. Secondly, the dominant and most widespread species of malaria in Africa … [Read more...]
Where did malaria start in Africa?
QUESTION Where did malaria start in Africa? ANSWER Malaria has been present in Africa for tens of thousands of years; given this ancient history, it is very difficult to know exactly where it first entered the continent. Also, there are several different types of malaria in Africa, which have likely had different histories, and malaria researchers continually unearth new evidence … [Read more...]
Malaria in Africa
QUESTION What percent of Africa has malaria? ANSWER That is very difficult to measure, but maps of malaria transmission potential show that malaria is potentially present across most of the continent, excluding the heart of the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, and the highlands of Ethiopia, Lesotho and Uganda/Rwanda. Other parts of the continent, such as the coastline of North Africa (along … [Read more...]