Malaria: Deadly danger for children in Africa continues to grow!

Malaria: Deadly danger for children in Africa continues to grow!

Malaria remains one of the most serious health crises for children in Africa. According to reports, 94% of the malaria fans registered worldwide and 95% of the associated deaths are due to the African continent. It is particularly alarming that 76% of malaria deaths affect children under the age of five, which means that over 1,000 children die from this disease every day, such as the Small newspaper reported.

Malaria is transmitted by the stitch of infected anopheles mosquitoes. The symptoms that usually occur 10 to 15 days after the sting include fever, headache, chills and exhaustion. The fight against malaria requires preventive measures such as avoiding mosquito bites, the use of insect protection sprays and sleeping among impregnated mosquito networks. Tropical doctors also recommend drug prophylaxis for travelers in affected areas.

Vaccination developments and challenges

The progress in the fight against Malaria is shown in the introduction of two vaccines that have been approved in 13 African countries. In Malawi in particular, a combination of vaccinations and impregnated networks was successful, since the malaria cases could be reduced by 71% in the first 18 months. In Cameroon, 366,000 doses were administered, which led to a decline in the malaria tropes from 66,800 to almost 267,000 in the affected districts.

Nevertheless, the situation remains critical. Increasing resistance to insecticides and mutations of the malaria pathogen difficult to combat the disease. In addition, the situation is also endangered by recent medium-sized cancellations, which contributed 37% to global financing of malaria programs between 2010 and 2023. It can be expected that many more life can be saved in further investments, such as progress in the Global find prove.

Climate change as a factor

Another dimension is climate change that could influence the spread of malaria. Scientific assessments predict that rising temperatures and changes in humidity expand the living conditions for anopheles mosquitoes. Mosquitoes only survive at temperatures above 15 degrees Celsius, which means that the climatic limits of malaria could potentially get to Europe.

The WHO estimates that around 200 million people fall ill annually to Malaria and the malaria risk indicators could be limited by climatic changes. This is an example of the far -reaching health consequences of climate change, including the increased frequency of extreme weather, endangered human life and livelihood.

In order to reduce the malaria incidence and mortality rate by 90% by 2030, a further expansion of the vaccination programs is of central importance. However, existing challenges show that the path to combat this tricky illness is still far.