malaria

Question 1

what is malaria?

Answer 1

a communicable infectious disease found in tropical areas

Question 2

how is malaria spread?

Answer 2

• biologically spread by disease vectors - parasites carried by female mosquitoes

Question 3

what does prevelence mean and what is malarias prevelence?

Answer 3

• prevelence means the proportion of people that have a specific charecteristic at a given time period
• nearly half of the worlds population is at risk of malaria
• in 2020 estimated 241 million people contracted malaria in 85 countries leading to 627,000 people dieing

Question 4

who are most at risk of dieing from malaria?

Answer 4

• infants and children under 5
• pregnant women
• patients with HIV/ AIDS
• some adults that live in areas where malaria is common will develop partial immunity reducing risk

Question 5

describe the distribution of malaria

Answer 5

• vast majority of cases and deaths in the WHO african region
• other hotspots include south east asia and western pacific
• northern south america
• malaria primarily occurs in tropical and sub tropical countries
• threat of malaria highest in sub-saharan africa (region that accounts for over half the malaria deaths worldwide

Question 6

what physical factors does seasonal incidence of malaria depend on?

Answer 6

• greatest incidence of disease occurs during and soon after the season of highest rainfall due to mosquitos breeding on stagnant water
• malaria can be present all yesr in equatorial regions where seasonal variations are less marked (malaria epidemic areas

Question 7

what are physical impacts of malaria transmition?

Answer 7

• areas of stagnant water present during rainy seasons are breeding ground for mosquitoes - transmission rates fall when annual rainfall is below 1,000mm
• malaria parasites can only survive in conditions less between 16-32°C
• altitude can affect mosquito breeding ability so malaria is rare above 1,500m
• areas near coasts and forests have higher humidity and less seasonal variation - more likely to be breeding grounds for transmission vectors

Question 8

what are some socio-economics impacts on transmission?

Answer 8

• poverty is a risk factor due to lack of investment in prevention programmes e.g. mosquito nets
• poor quality housing - ill fitting doors and windows allow mosquitoes to enter
• areas of high population density and housing density allow fast transmissions of disease vectors
• poor diet and unstable food - malnourishment and weaker ability to fight infection
• better education systems and higher levels of literacy lead to more knowledge of malaria prevention
• links between poor sanitation and malaria (open sewers attract mosquitoes)
• empolyment type can increase exposure to malaria - e.g. agricultural workers, open mine workers near water sources
• **age ** children under 5 and elderly most at risk

Question 9

what are impacts of malaria on physical health and well-being?

Answer 9

• may cause anamia and jaundice becuase of loss of red blood cells
• symptoms include fever and flu-like illness including shaking, chills, headache muscle aches and tiredness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea
• if not promtly treated infection can become severe and cause kidney failure, seizures, coma and death

Question 10

what are impacts of malaria on soci-economic well-being?

Answer 10

• causes big economiccost to individuals and government
• individual cost for families for drugs for treatment at home or travel for treatment and lost dys of work
• government costs of maintanece, supply and staffing of health facilities, public health interventions and drugs, distribution of bed nets and reduced tourism
• direct costs estimated at at least $12 billion a year

Question 11

what are management strategies of malaria?

Answer 11

• giving antimalarial drugs and vaccines to those living or travelling to areas of transmision
• seasonal malaria chemoprevention - a program that delivers antimalarial medicine to vunerable populations during peak malarial transmision season, even if not infected
• treating sick people quickly by making diagnosis tests quicker, more accurate and more available

Question 12

what are malaria mitigation stratergies?

Answer 12

vector controls
* insecticide- treated mosquito nets given to vunerable communities
* indoor residual spraying - the spraying of insecticide on surfaces withing homes to repel mosquitoes

Question 13

what are the positives/ success of mitigation and management stratergies?

Answer 13

• helped to reduce malaria transmission significantly
• in 2000, 6 countries in malaria transmission zones had fewer than 100 cases, by 2020 this had increased to 26 countries

Question 14

what are the negatives/ drawbacks of mitigation and management stratergies?

Answer 14

• IRS and antimalarial drugs are expensive and less available to populations in remote rural areas where they are often most needed
• incecticides can have negative knock-on effects
  - peoples health - linked to cancer and miscarriages in pregnant women
  - death of insects and fish in local water ecosystems