|
Malaria, Tanzania’s biggest killer disease
2005-09-13 07:18:37
By Gontardo Matavika
Incomplete treatment speeds up the spread of parasite resistance to anti-malaria drugs and thus poses another major problem.
Without a concerted fight against malaria, Tanzania’s biggest killer that takes hundreds of lives everyday and demands the presence of a reasonable amount of education and environmental awareness, the battle to control the scourge will be an uphill task.
Health experts say the control war is everybody’s business and involves not only health work and science, but also adequate clean water supply, sanitation and community development.
The annual global toll of malaria is high, ruining national economies by disabling many people from work due to illness and killing thousands of others, mostly children below the age of five. Other age groups do not go scot-free either.
Women in their first or second pregnancy and older children fall victim too. So do young adults and non-immune travellers.
Tropical Africa accounts for the overwhelming majority of these cases.
Malaria is more pronounced in developing countries and in populations living under the most difficult and impoverished conditions.
The disease wreaks havoc by weakening the health and general welfare of families.
Through endangering the survival and education of children, it debilitates the active population and impoverishes individuals and countries.
Treatment of the sick calls for more on the national budget, an extra burden that hinders other developments.
The most common way of fighting against the disease is the use of insecticides and other affordable drug prescriptions, but that alone is not enough.
A great deal of seriousness and commitment from the general public is required if malaria is to be eradicated from Tanzania and the African continent at large.
However, the sad discovery is that the disease cannot be controlled using the same approach in all situations.
Today, a new strategy is being pursued following the discovery of the capacity of the mosquito and the parasite to withstand the measures to eradicate it and a better understanding of the social and economic factors involved.
It has been recognized that malaria problems vary enormously from country to country, from area to area and even within different groups of the population.
Control efforts must be adapted accordingly if they are to succeed and bring the desired outcome to the people.
The aim of the campaign is very simple; to prevent people from dying of the disease and to reduce the suffering and the social and economic damage that it causes.
If people manage to do so, they will have increased their life span as well as their socio-economic status.
This is possible because malaria is a curable and preventable disease.
Since many of its causes and their remedies lie outside the health sector, the campaign calls for malaria control to become an integral part not only of general health programmes but also of the relevant development programmes in other sectors.
Malaria control is everybody’s business and everyone should contribute.
It requires the partnership of community members and the involvement of those engaged in educational and environmental awareness programs in general and in water supply, sanitation and community development programs in particular.
Malaria control campaign is not an easy task so to speak.
The disease often occurs in remote areas, with poor housing and lack of basic health services, overcrowding, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, civil disturbances and other difficulties.
Enough resources have to be used to deal with emergencies.
In many countries, the majority of malaria cases are diagnosed and treated at home by private practitioners, often incompletely and with irrational regimens, which endanger the lives of many people.
Incomplete treatment speeds up the spread of parasite resistance to anti-malaria drugs and thus poses another major problem.
It has, for instance caused a dramatic rise in the cost of drugs for treating uncomplicated cases of malaria.
People should know that, formerly, malaria control depended heavily on insecticide spraying, but now the selective use of preventive measures, including vector control, is proving to be more successful, cost-effective and sustainable. Thus, taking care of our environment is necessary if we are to eradicate the spread of malaria in our country.
New skills are required if the general health services are to take responsibility for diagnosis and treatment.
People have to adapt to local situations, existing malaria staff has to unclean practices that are no longer effective and communities need to learn about malaria and how to deal with it.
Training and health education ought to be the main focus if the campaign against the spread of malaria is to be successful.
Health agencies must visit people in order to know their surroundings and educate them on how to keep their environment clean and safe from malaria.
’An apple a day keeps the doctor away,’ as adage, says. In the same way, if doctors get into the habit of visiting people at their homes, they will help to keep malaria away because people will learn more from them.
|
