A Killer Called Malaria
The Disease That Kills Two People Every Minute
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Malaria is the most widespread of several diseases caused by mosquitoes. It is estimated that malaria kills a healthy child somewhere in the world every thirty seconds. Medical records indicate that malaria kills one out of five babies before they reach their fifth birthday. It also very frequently attacks pregnant woman, leading to disastrous consequences for the unborn. However, malaria does not prey solely on the weak and vulnerable; it affects and kills many healthy men and women too. This dreadful disease keeps billions of people perpetually unhealthy, unhappy and miserable. It prevents about 40% of the world’s poor from realizing their full potential in life.
Certain countries, spend about 10% of natural resources on malaria drug purchases, storage and treatment every year. For Ghana, this figure is almost 800 million dollars every year. This translates into an estimated yearly expenditure of about 30-40 billion United States dollars every year for the treatment of malaria disease in Africa alone. Yet, the results are paltry; deaths from malaria continue, and keep escalating. This is unacceptable because malaria is a treatable disease and can be eradicated. Developing countries should be on the forefront of this war against malaria disease. Every effort should be used to mobilize human, scientific, technical and financial resources in the developing world in fruitful collaborative effort with similar resources in the industrialized world for the complete eradication of malaria.