Why Millions of Africans Are Dying from Malaria

Today in Africa , a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. Whereas death from malaria has become practically unheard of in the United States , the disease kills between 1 and 2 million Africans every year. And death rates from the disease are on the rise. 1

The problem is that when an African mother brings her child to a clinic to be treated for malaria, there is a good chance that the medicine she receives will not even work, and her child will get sick again and again, maybe as often as six times each year. That's because the malaria parasites and the mosquitoes that carry them are increasingly developing resistance to the drugs that are most commonly available in Africa . In a majority of African countries affected by malaria, resistance to common malaria treatments is so high that the drugs are virtually useless, failing more than 25% of the time.

What adds to the tragedy is that there are malaria treatments that work. Many of these children's lives could be saved by using the most effective treatment available for malaria patients: artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). Made from the extracts of a natural Chinese plant, ACT holds enormous potential when used in combination with other drugs.

Getting ACT to African people who need it most is not a question of proving that it works. It's mostly a matter of money. A single dose can cost more than what a typical African family can earn in a week. And the medicine is not yet available in every country, so patients have to obtain treatment from abroad, which increases the price of the drugs even further.

 

Profile of a Mass Killer

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. An insect infected with a malaria parasite bites a human, transferring the parasite to the person's bloodstream, where it multiplies and can cause illness or death. When this person is bitten by another mosquito, the parasite travels from human back to insect, and the cycle continues. Patients with malaria break out in high fever, headache and joint pain. Infection can escalate to severe malaria if left untreated, resulting in coma and eventually death.

Malaria can be cured with antimalarial drugs, such as chloroquine, but an increasing number of parasites have become resistant to the most common drugs. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) and other malaria experts are promoting the use of ACT, progress has been slow in getting these new medicines to patients. Cost is the most cited reason given for why ACT is not available to the children who are dying from malaria daily.

1 Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières