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Each year, 25 April is designated as World
Malaria Day, so now is a good time to review the progress being made
towards the elimination of malaria, and in particular Pageant's
small part in helping to combat this killer disease.
There are about 216 million cases of malaria
world-wide each year, leading to around 655 thousand deaths. The
fight against malaria means that the map showing countries where
malaria is endemic has been shrinking for the past decade. In Africa
deaths have been cut by one third in the last decade. There are
Millennium Development Goals, which aim to achieve near-zero deaths
in malaria-endemic countries by 2015. The great worry now is the
emergence of drug resistant strains of the malaria parasite
Plasmodium falciparum, which if unchecked could lead to untreatable
malaria, and a reversal of the gains made so far. So despite the
current economic climate, governments and aid agencies need to keep
funds flowing to malaria control programmes, and to research into
new and improved methods of malaria control.
Pageant's small part in the fight against
malaria in The Gambia consists of distributing mosquito nets to
village communities, and encouraging the cultivation of Artemisia Annua Anamed, from which people can prepare a 'tea' with proven
anti-malarial properties. Both mosquito nets and Artemisia plants
are included in Pageant's Ethical Gifts scheme, so everyone can help
in the fight against malaria.
Resistance to Artemisinins
Chloroquine used to be the main drug for
malaria control, but it is now ineffective in most areas because the
Plasmodium falciparum parasites have developed resistance, and many
other antimalarials are becoming less effective. The world's main
treatment is now Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT), a
combination of Artemisinin (derived from the Artemisia Annua herb)
with one or more of the older drugs. Unfortunately the Plasmodium falciparum parasite has developed resistance to ACT in Thailand and
Burma. There are worries that resistance could spread to sub-Saharan
Africa, leading to untreatable malaria. [more
info] [and
more]
There are several approaches to attacking the
resistance problem:
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Research on the parasite genome has revealed an
area which is linked to resistance. This could lead to a
better understanding and therefore prevention of resistance
developing.
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) is
working on a containment project to eliminate the resistant parasite
from the areas where it is now endemic. [more
info] [and
more]
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WHO also felt that use of Artemisinin alone (Artemisinin
monotherapy) could be one of the causes of resistance so recommended
a ban on monotherapies in 2006. So far only Cambodia has
implemented a ban.
Resistance to Artemisia Tea
Fake and substandard anti-malarial drugs are widely on sale
throughout Africa, and some contain only small amounts of Artemisinin. It is thought that the use of these could lead to
resistance developing independently in Africa. [more
info] Is there any chance that
using Artemisia tea could contribute to the development of
resistance? In China the herb Artemisia Annua has been used as an
anti-malarial for some 2000 years, without any resistance
developing. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that parasites
become resistant to whole plant extracts. For example, the malaria
parasite has developed resistance to synthetically made Chloroquine,
but tea made from the bark of the cinchona tree is still effective.
[more
info] [and
more] Until there is convincing
evidence against using artemisia tea, Pageant will continue to
promote its Artemisia Project as part of the fight against malaria.
Mosquito Nets
Malaria is transmitted by the anopheles
mosquito, so if drugs do become less effective, then prevention of
infection using mosquito nets becomes even more important. Nets are
always treated with an insecticide, so that as well as forming a
physical barrier, they actually kill mosquitoes by contact.
Conventional insecticides need to be reapplied during the lifetime
of the net, and failure to do this means that the nets become less
effective. There are now long lasting insecticide treatments (LLIN)
which are good for about 5 years, at which point the net would
probably need replacing anyway. These are usually applied during
manufacture, and the insecticide can be chemically bonded to the
fibre. [more
info on LLIN]
Biotech Solutions
Effective control of many insect pests has
been achieved by releasing large numbers of sterile males. These
mate with females, who then fail to produce any offspring. This
technique is particularly effective for insects where the female
mates once only. An example is the screwworm, a parasite which
infects many types of grazing animal. This has been largely
eliminated in many areas, by releasing large numbers of males which
have been sterilised by radiation. Similar methods are being tried
on the anopheles mosquito. A variation is to produce genetically
modified males, which are not sterile, but whose offspring only
survive for a very short time. [more
info]
Not just in Africa
Just in case you thought that malaria was
confined to tropical countries, it is worth remembering that it was
once endemic here in Britain. In Romney Marsh, Kent, malaria was
known as 'marsh fever', and killed large numbers of people in the
middle ages. It was only finally eradicated in the early twentieth
century, Mosquitoes capable of carrying malaria still exist in
Romney Marsh and other marshy areas of Britain. It only needs some
infected people to be bitten for the disease to re-establish itself.
So please support World Malaria Day, if only out of self interest!
You can do your small part by purchasing a Pageant Ethical Gift
such as a
mosquito net or some
artemisia plants.
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