To create awareness about malaria every year, on April 25th, we observe World Malaria Day. On the World Malaria Day, people spread awareness about malaria, its symptoms, causes, treatment.
In May 2007, this special day was established by the 60th session of the World Health Assembly, a decision-making body of WHO.
This year’s World Malaria Day theme is ‘Reaching the zero malaria target’.
After more than a decade of steady advances in fighting malaria, progress has leveled off. According to WHO’s World Malaria Report of 2015 to 2017, no significant gains were made in reducing malaria cases. The estimated number of malaria deaths in 2017, at 435 000, remained virtually unchanged over the previous years.
Malaria is a disease that has spread to more than 100 countries worldwide and more than 10 million people die because of the disease.
While in some countries people are fighting the disease, in some countries the cases of malaria are rising each year, the reason being the ignorance of symptoms and causes. Symptoms of malaria include chills, fever, headache, sweat, pain in muscles, vomiting, nausea, etc.
Healthwire talked to some people who have been through malaria to know how they fought the disease and what happened to them.
“I was working as a volunteer for one health project in a rural area and one day I had a high fever one day and in the morning the fever was gone without any medication, I ignored the symptom by assuming it as a result of exertion. During the daytime when we were working, I felt nausea and fainted. After that, I was feeling chills and I was too weak to get up. By that time the doctor prescribed tests and It happened to be malaria that I was suffering from and It took me the whole month to recover fully” Prateek Pathak told Healthwire.
“I had malaria once and I ignored the symptoms at the beginning. I got so weak that I got admitted to the hospital. The only thing I remember having thoughts like I am going to die but thanks to the medication and healthcare facilities that it saved me. It took more than a month to recover” Sukriti Pal told Healthwire.
“Malaria was a big deal at some point, it is actually a deadly disease if left untreated or if you ignore your symptoms for a longer period of time but now with increasing healthcare facilities and treatments available, people can recover from the disease. It is important to live in a hygienic space and eat clean and healthy food to stay away from the malaria” said Dr. Arun Maurya, M.B.B.S
Treatment of Malaria
Since the formal establishment of a malaria control program in 1953, shortly after independence, treatments provided by the public sector ranged from chloroquine, the mainstay drug for many decades, to the newer, recently introduced artemisinin-based combination therapy.
According to WHO, patients with suspected malaria should have parasitological confirmation of diagnosis with either microscopy or rapid diagnostic test (RDT) before antimalarial treatment is started. Treatment based on clinical grounds should only be given if diagnostic testing is not immediately accessible within 2 hours of patients presenting for treatment. Prompt treatment – within 24 hours of fever onset – with effective and safe antimalarial is necessary to effect a cure and prevent life-threatening complications.
The primary objective of treatment is to ensure the rapid and full elimination of Plasmodium parasites from a patient’s bloodstream in order to prevent an uncomplicated case of malaria from progressing to severe disease or death. From a public health perspective, the effective treatment also reduces transmission of the infection to others by reducing the infectious reservoir and by preventing the emergence and spread of resistance to antimalarial medicines.
