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| Beyond the Mosquito |
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Find out why JCI and the UN Foundation are working together to combat malaria.
In 2008, JCI committed to raising USD $10 million to buy 1 million insecticide-treated bed nets to fight malaria through the JCI Nothing But Nets Campaign in partnership with the United Nations Foundation.JCI Members across the globe have taken action to raise awareness about JCI Nothing But Nets and many have joined the Birthday Campaign to raise funds for bed nets. But how much do you know about malaria and how the programs like those run by JCI and the UN can help?
Malaria: the Facts
Malaria, an infectious disease, is carried by mosquitoes and is prevalent throughout tropical and subtropical regions including Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Malaria facts:
- Affects 41 percent of the world’s population
- There are between 350 and 500 million cases of malaria worldwide each year
- More then one million people, mostly young children, die from the disease every year
- Symptoms include fever, shivering, joint pain, nausea, anemia, eye damage and convulsions throughout its various stages. Severe cases result in coma and death.
- Children and the elderly suffer from the most severe cases
- Malaria was the fourth leading cause of death in children in developing countries in 2002, and conditions have not improved significantly.
Treatment
Many anti-malarial pharmaceutical drugs are currently available to both treat and prevent malaria. However, no widely available vaccine currently exists that provides a high level of protection for a sustained period. The use of prophylactic drugs is popular among travelers to malaria-endemic regions, but is not widely practiced among residents of such regions because of the frequency the drugs must be taken and the side effects of long-term use.
These drugs are also too expensive for populations of developing nations. Additionally, the World Health Organization has stated that as many as 40 percent of malaria medications are counterfeit.
Prevention
Rather than depend on expensive medication that may be fake, many organizations focus on the prevention of transmission. There are many methods to prevent malaria, including spraying insecticide to eliminate mosquito population, indoor insecticide treatment to discourage mosquito entrance, and the use of bed nets to prevent transmission while sleeping.
Insecticide-treated bed nets combine prevention methods, both preventing transmission and killing the host mosquito, which prevents transmission to others not covered by the bed nets. These nets are inexpensive to produce and infuse with insecticide and have been shown to reduce transmission by as much as 90 percent in areas with high coverage rates.
Impact on Society
Malaria strikes particularly hard in developing countries and is the cause and effect of poverty in many nations, especially in Africa. Affected nations generally lack the financial capacity to prevent the spread of malaria or to treat malaria patients. Without support from developed nations, affected areas would succumb to the disease and fail to post the very modest growth currently experienced.
In addition to the costs to combat malaria, the disease affects Africa economies in other ways:
- Malaria accounts for USD $12 billion every year in health care costs, lost working and education days due to illness, decreased productivity due to brain damage and loss of investment and tourism.
- Average per capita gross domestic product has risen only 0.4 percent per year between 1965 and 1990 in many developing countries versus 2.5 percent per year in other nations not affected by the disease.
- The lack of economic growth means the perpetuation of nations being unable to afford to combat malaria, ensuring its continuation as a worldwide problem.
What is Being Done?
Many international organizations operate support programs for malaria-endemic countries and many governments provide aid to nations specifically intended to combat malaria. Many of these programs involve the distribution of and education about insecticide-treated bed nets. The International Red Cross, World Health Organization and the United Nations all cite the effectiveness of insecticide-treated bed nets as reasons for their support and continue to raise funds to provide more nets.
How Can I Help?
JCI Members are already working towards the goal of 1 million bed nets by 2015 through targeted projects and individual action. By supporting JCI Nothing But Nets and purchasing a bed net, members can help save a life and contribute to the eradication of a disease that represents one of the greatest hurdles on the track to success for developing nations.
Learn more about the campaign and what you and your organization can do.
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