Combating malaria

SIV Lesson notes:

Farming-Classification of farming; farm system; application of systems model to industry; introduction to dairy farming; Case study of Hoddomtown Farm (part 1)

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Malaria is one of the most deadly and persistent of parasitic diseases to affect people. It is endemic in many tropical countries, notably in Africa and much of Asia and is responsible for at least one million deaths worldwide a year. 90% of cases are in Sub Saharan Africa. Children under 5 are particularly vulnerable. BBC Word Service reports that a " genetically-modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects. It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populations in the hope that they will take over.
The insect carries a gene that prevents infection by the single celled malaria parasite (plasmodium) that attacks the blood cells.


As well as genetic modification, other means of control include:

drugs to combat the disease
destroying the breeding grounds (eg swamps, stagnant waters)
vaccine

For full details, click here.

To think about: Do mosquitoes get malaria? What happens to them?


"gathering techniques"-Use the web??

The difficulty of getting accurate data from the web is shown by the following quotes below:


"Malaria kills up to three million in the world each year, mostly in Africa.
More than a million children in Africa die from malaria each year" (BBC March 2007)

The burden is huge, with an estimated 2 million people dying each year, most of them children under five years old. (University of Aberdeen, December 2006)

"The latest official study puts the (number of people affected) at between 350 million and 500 million a year. Malaria is preventable and curable, but can be fatal if not treated promptly. It kills more than a million people a year - mostly young children in sub-Saharan Africa - and is a factor in many other deaths." (BBC no date; 2006?)