The goal of the World Health
Organization (WHO) to reduce malaria to near-zero by 2015 may be a long stretch
according to a new report that estimates malaria related deaths to be twice as
high as originally estimated. The WHO estimated
that 655,000 people died from malaria in 2010, but new findings show that the
total could actually be up to 1.24 million.
A thirty percent decrease in malaria has been seen since the 2004 peak,
but Christopher Murray, a researcher at The Institute of Health Metrics and
Evaluation, says that there is more uncertainty about malaria deaths than any
other cause. In the 99 countries in
Africa that malaria still seriously affects, death certificates and cause of
death are nonexistent. Murray and his
team go around and do extensive interviews on the deceased family members and
neighbors to compose enough evidence for a cause of death. With this technique, known as a “verbal
autopsy”, Murray discovered there were 433,000 more deaths of malaria worldwide
of people over the age of 5. This
contradicts the general belief that most malaria deaths come from children
under the age of 5. Sarah Kline, the
director of the UK branch of Malaria No More, said that even though these
findings contribute to the on going discussion of malaria prevention, it would
most likely not change the tools that are used to fight malaria. Another problem in combating the disease is
that the Global Health Fund to fight AIDs, tuberculosis, and malaria, which
accounts for two thirds of the world’s anti-malaria spending, has suspended its
grants since last fall.
The on going battle to fight the
malaria epidemic seems to be one of the few global health issues that has shown
quantitative success. The thirty percent
decrease seen since the year 2004, shows the achievement that global funding
has contributed by providing mosquito nets and vaccinations. Murray’s new research sheds light on the fact
that a lot of cases of malaria still go undetected in poverty stricken
nations. Nations to poor to even provide
a certificate and proper cause of death attribute to the potential double
number of actual malaria cases worldwide.
This new finding could put a hold on cutting the malaria epidemic to
near-zero by 2015. As Sarah Kline stated
these numbers should be considered with caution and most likely they will not
lead to changes in how the diseases is being fought. Funding from places like the Global Health
Fund should continue their progress of providing aid to those who need it. Bill Gates, who donated $750 million to the
Global Fund last week at the World Economic Forum, demonstrated that people
should still put faith in the fund to continue the fight against malaria as
well as tuberculosis and AIDs. Epidemics
such as malaria can only be fought if more global participation comes into
action. President Obama’s Global Health
Initiative, which has the goal to improve health systems and fight diseases in coordination,
is a step in the right direction to help eradicate global health threats. If more is done on a global scale to combat
the disease, more people can be reached and treated. The “invisible malaria cases” not taken into
account by the WHO will have a greater chance of being reached with global
coordination, and they seem to be the ones who need it the most due to the
extreme poverty of their countries.
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