The technology for the cure and containment of Malaria is available, and is not very expensive. Unfortunately, the poor countries where the disease is rampant do not have even the fairly small amounts of money that are needed to make this technology available to its citizens.

• There are over 300 million cases of malaria worldwide each year, with more than 1 million resulting in death.
• Over 90% of these cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The majority of those who die are children aged under five years. They die because they are unprotected from mosquito bites and are not treated quickly enough with anti-malarial drugs to prevent the disease from killing them.
• Cerebral malaria is the most dreaded form of malaria, often resulting in death within 24 hours.
• Malaria usually produces symptoms similar to “flu” only much more severe. These include a high temperature, recurring bouts of feeling cold and shivery, profuse sweating, hot flushes, general aching, and dizziness and delirium.
• Malaria can lie dormant for months and reoccur even after initial treatment.
• Malaria is passed on to humans by the bite of an infected female mosquito. When the mosquito bites a person, it passes on a parasite called Plasmodium – which lives and breeds in the mosquito’s stomach – into the human bloodstream where it is carried to the liver and eventually multiplies.
• The malaria parasite can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy.
• Malaria often acts together with malnutrition, respiratory infections and other diseases that prey upon the most vulnerable.
• In malaria-endemic countries pregnant women are at a much higher risk of becoming sick with the disease.
• Malaria infections during pregnancy may cause maternal anaemia and lead to an increased risk of maternal death.
• Malaria in pregnancy also increases the risk of miscarriage and still birth.
• Babies born to mothers with malaria often have low birth weight, which adversely affects the health and development of the child.
• A third of malaria deaths could be prevented if children at risk slept under insecticide-treated nets. Currently, however, less than 5% of children at greatest risk of the disease sleep safely under these nets.
• Cost of insecticide-treated net : $4.00 per net.
• Chloroquine and SP have long been used to treat malaria, but in recent years have lost effectiveness. Artmesinin-based combinational therapy (ACT) acts quickly on malaria parasites in the blood stream and has not, up to now, led to the development of resistance.
• ACT is not yet widely implemented as a first-line response to malaria because it is up to ten times more expensive than the other two drugs, and donors are loath to foot the bill.
• Cost of ACT drugs : around $1.10 per dose.

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The information in this talking point is from The Massive Effort Campaign Web Page