MALARIA

Done by:Wilson Yap

Samuel PangSeah Yi LeZhen Xiang

What is Malaria?

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by a parasite called Plasmodium.

It begins with a bite from an infected female mosquito, which introduces the parasite via its saliva into the circulatory system. The parasite then reproduces within the red blood cells, eventually causing them to rupture.Ruptured Red

blood cells

Parasites reproducing inside a red blood cell

Methods of Diagnosis Blood films, whereby blood

samples are collected from the patient and inspected under the microscope.

For areas where microscopy is not available, there are commercial antigen detection tests that require only a drop of blood. These tests use finger-stick or venous blood, the completed test takes a total of 15–20 minutes, and the results are read visually as the presence or absence of coloured stripes on the dipstick, so they are suitable for use in the field.

Affected Areas

Generally, Malaria is most commonly found in South Africa, as it has a high temperature, humidity and rainfall all year round.

This is because the most common malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum (which causes severe malaria) cannot complete its growth cycle in the Anopheles mosquito at temperatures below 20°C and thus cannot be transmitted.

Aiding affected areas

In 2008 the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership unveiled the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP), which sets out what needs to be achieved to meet the short, medium and long term goals of malaria control, elimination and eventual eradication. In 2008 the Partnership kick-started it’s "Counting malaria out" campaign. This two-year campaign is intensifying global efforts to reach the first important malaria milestone by 2010 - universal coverage for all populations at risk with locally appropriate interventions for prevention and case management, and a reduction in the number of malaria cases and deaths by 50%.The campaign and GMAP therefore call on all malaria endemic countries, RBM partners and donors to put extra efforts into comprehensively tracking progress in malaria prevention and treatment along the path to near-zero deaths by 2015 and the gradual elimination of malaria.

"World Malaria Day" was established and approved at the 60th World Health Assembly (WHA) in March 2007. It replaced "Africa Malaria Day" which was commemorated every year since 2001 on 25 April. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of malaria as a disease that is preventable and treatable and to mobilize communities across the world to get involved in the fight against it.

The End

Done by: Wilson Yap Samuel Pang Seah Yi Le Zhen Xiang