Beat Malaria for $1 a Shot

[longknife]

If this is true, it's big news. This comes from the article:


While there have been significant reductions in the numbers of people falling ill and dying from malaria, it still kills around 600,000 a year - most of them children in the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa.


What the article – and many others – ignore is that malaria is an insect-borne disease and has a simple way to stop its spread – the use of DDT! It's the best known insect killer in the world.


Read more about the drug @ New drug compound may beat malaria with single 1 dose Fox News

 

[waltky]

... drug sellers put profit ahead of patients...

Study: Drugmaker Profits Undermine Malaria Diagnosis in Nigeria
September 08, 2015: Following a dramatic decline in malaria-related deaths between 2000 and 2013, World Health Organization data show more than 430,000 kids still die from the mosquito-borne infectious disease in Africa each year.

Despite the wide availability of Rapid Diagnostic Testing (RDT), many health workers in Nigeria, which carries a quarter of Africa’s malaria burden, neglect to use it. Unlike conventional microscopy testing, in which lab technicians look for parasites in blood samples, 15-to-30 minute RDT procedures allow for diagnosis at the community level. But according to a new study in the scientific journal Plos One, failure or refusal to use RDTs can lead to misdiagnosis and a waste of expensive malaria drugs. "Most people [in Nigeria] wrongly assume that all fevers are malaria," says University of Nigeria Professor Obinna Onwujekwe, the study's lead author. "So once you have a fever, you’re most likely to get a malaria drug without diagnosis. That is wrong. Not all fevers are malaria."

Evaluating data compiled from 5,000 people across 40 communities in Nigeria's Enugu state, Onwujekwe's team looked at why health workers use RDTs less than 50 percent of the time, despite adequate training to administer the quick test. Their conclusion is that drug sellers put profit ahead of patients. "First-line drugs are the expensive artemisinin-based combination therapy," says Onwujekwe, explaining that RDT confirmation of a non-malarial fever means the patient wouldn't be required to buy the anti-malarial drugs. "They want to make money," he says. "I mean, if somebody comes with fever and they say go home [because you don't have malaria], well, they lose money. ... Because of that, there’s a lot of waste. Drugs are wasted [and] quite a lot of money."

Health workers take a blood sample from a child in Gusau, northern Nigeria.

China and Vietnam grow most of the plants from which artemisinin is derived, but there is a growing market in East Africa. Despite negotiations for lower prices, the first-line drugs remain more expensive than other less effective treatments. Onwujekwe says another problem is many health workers don’t trust the rapid diagnostic test. They would rather diagnose someone strictly on their symptoms. "If the test says it’s not malaria, they don't believe the test," he says.

So what happens when people are misdiagnosed and given the wrong treatment? "There are so many consequences," he says. "That other illness can cause real damage, which may even lead to death. That’s one. Then, there’s the high economic cost for society. And they’re wasting the drugs. Then, number three, it can be development of resistance to malaria parasites if the drugs are not used properly." With millions of people still at risk of infection, the WHO has called a move toward universal diagnostic testing a critical step toward eradication. Onwujekwe's study says training health care workers on new procedures is not enough, and that government, NGOs, and U.N. agencies need work to change the old mindset about how to properly diagnose and treat patients.

Study: Drugmaker Profits Undermine Malaria Diagnosis in Nigeria

 

[waltky]

Anti-malaria efforts startin' to pay off...

Millions of children's lives saved as malaria deaths plunge -UN
17 Sept.`15 - Rates of death from malaria have plunged by 60 percent in the past 15 years, meaning more than 6 million lives have been saved - the vast majority of them African children, United Nations agencies said on Thursday.

In a joint World Health Organisation (WHO)-UNICEF report, experts also said that a crucial Millennium Development Goal to halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria by 2015 has been met "convincingly", with new cases of the parasitic mosquito-borne disease down by 37 percent since 2000. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan hailed it as "one of the great public health success stories of the past 15 years". "It's a sign that our strategies are on target and that we can beat this ancient killer," she said in a statement.

The report found an increasing number of countries on the verge of eliminating malaria. In 2014, 13 countries reported zero cases and six had fewer than 10 cases. Yet despite enormous progress, malaria remains an acute problem in some regions, the report said. This year alone, there have been an estimated 214 million new cases of malaria, with around 438,000 deaths. "Malaria kills mostly young children, especially those living in the poorest and most remote places. So the best way to celebrate global progress...is to recommit ourselves to reaching and treating them," said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. "We know how to prevent and treat malaria. Since we can do it, we must."

A child is given an injection as part of a malaria vaccine trial at a clinic in the Kenya coastal town of Kilifi, in a file picture.

A study by the Malaria Atlas Project at Britain's Oxford University found that "by far the most important intervention" in reducing malaria cases and deaths has been the use of insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), around a billion of which have been distributed in Africa since 2000.

Some 68 percent of malaria cases prevented since 2000 were stopped by ITNs, while anti-malarial drugs called Artemisinin-based combination therapies and indoor spraying accounted for 22 percent and 10 percent of cases prevented, according to the study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. The United Nations now has a new goal for malaria control -to cut the numbers of new cases and deaths by a further 90 percent by 2030. The WHO-UNICEF report said that annual funding for the anti-malaria campaign will need to triple, from $2.7 billion now to $8.7 billion in 2030, to meet that goal.

Millions of children's lives saved as malaria deaths plunge -UN

 

[strollingbones]

and any time the anti vacciners will be along to object

 

[Old Rocks]

If this is true, it's big news. This comes from the article:


While there have been significant reductions in the numbers of people falling ill and dying from malaria, it still kills around 600,000 a year - most of them children in the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa.


What the article – and many others – ignore is that malaria is an insect-borne disease and has a simple way to stop its spread – the use of DDT! It's the best known insect killer in the world.


Read more about the drug @ New drug compound may beat malaria with single 1 dose Fox News

DDT-resistant Mosquitoes Spread Malaria
Controversial insecticide is still used in the third world.

Widespread DDT spraying, decades ago, created resistance in many mosquitoes
By Elizabeth Miller

DDT was once a common insecticide in the United States, but it was banned in 1972 due to health concerns and danger to other wildlife. It's still used in other countries to kill mosquitoes that spread malaria and other diseases, and that's why there's a problem when mosquitoes become resistant to DDT.

Malaria sickened 225 million people and caused 781,000 deaths in 2009, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most of the deaths occurred among African children, where 20 percent of childhood deaths are caused by malaria. The only way to get malaria is by being bitten by an Anopheles mosquito which is carrying the disease, so reducing the number of mosquitoes, preventing mosquito bites, or shortening the lifespan of mosquitoes so the disease can't develop inside them, will eliminate malaria.

The WHO currently recommends pyrethrum-impregnated mosquito nets in countries with malaria problems, but also recommends spraying: "Indoor residual spraying (IRS) with insecticides is the most powerful way to rapidly reduce malaria transmission," according to a WHO fact sheet on malaria. "DDT can be effective for 9-12 months in some cases." [1] But if mosquitoes develop resistance to DDT, it becomes less effective.

Even though DDT causes serious health problems in humans, some people, like this author, defend its use, and blame its poor reputation on distortions by the mainstream media.

DDT-Resistant Mosquitoes

No, not ignored, just not useful in some places. And dangerous to humans as well. Just less dangerous than malaria.

 

[waltky]

70% drop in malaria cases in Latin America...

WHO: Malaria Deaths, Cases Plunge in Latin America
November 06, 2015 — Across Americas, increased prevention and control of malaria has led to nearly 70 percent drop in cases, from 1.2 million in 2000 to 375,000 in 2014

Malaria deaths and cases across Latin America have plunged in recent years, with Brazil, Honduras and Paraguay, showing most progress in combating the parasitic mosquito-born disease, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has said. Across the Americas, increased prevention and control of malaria has led to a nearly 70 percent drop in cases, from 1.2 million in 2000 to 375,000 in 2014.

A Kayapo girl from Gorotire tribe with symptoms of Malaria fever receives medical attention on the sixth day of a medical expedition of the "Expedicionarios da Saude" (Brazilian Health Expeditions) in Kikretum community in Sao Felix, northern Brazil​

Malaria deaths have dropped by nearly 80 percent over the same period, with 89 deaths reported in the region last year, according to latest figures from PAHO, the regional arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Americas. "The region of the Americas has demonstrated capacity to reduce malaria significantly," Marcos Espinal, head of PAHO/WHO's communicable diseases department, said in a statement late on Thursday.

Brazil program praised

PAHO praised Brazil's national malaria prevention program. Set up in 2003, nearly 14,000 health workers in rural and urban areas raise awareness among local communities about how to detect and prevent malaria and ensure mosquito nets are properly set up and used. Worldwide insecticide-treated bed nets have been credited with spurring big drops in malaria deaths and are considered a central weapon in the global fight against malaria. Such control and prevention measures, and to a lesser extent indoor spraying, have led to a 60 percent decline in malaria mortality rates worldwide since 2000, according to WHO.

Africa region

Yet despite enormous progress over the last 15 years, around 438,000 people worldwide died from malaria last year, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 91 percent of those deaths, particularly among young children, WHO figures show. The United Nations aims to cut the numbers of new malaria cases and deaths by a further 90 percent by 2030.

A September report by WHO and the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said that annual funding for the antimalaria campaign will need to triple, from $2.7 billion now to $8.7 billion in 2030, to meet that goal. Last month, WHO experts said the world's first malaria vaccine was promising but should be used on a pilot basis before any wide-scale use, given its limited efficacy. The decision is likely to delay a possible broad roll-out of the antimalarial vaccine shot for between three and five years.

WHO: Malaria Deaths, Cases Plunge in Latin America

 

[Delta4Embassy]

If this is true, it's big news. This comes from the article:


While there have been significant reductions in the numbers of people falling ill and dying from malaria, it still kills around 600,000 a year - most of them children in the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa.


What the article – and many others – ignore is that malaria is an insect-borne disease and has a simple way to stop its spread – the use of DDT! It's the best known insect killer in the world.


Read more about the drug @ New drug compound may beat malaria with single 1 dose Fox News

Wha dya wanna bet that pharmaceutical guy is looking at this and thinking, "I could buy that company then charge $550/dose instead."

 

[waltky]

Genetically modified mosquito to help prevent the spread of malaria...

Mutant mosquitoes 'resist malaria'
24 November 2015 - US scientists say they have bred a genetically modified (GM) mosquito that can resist malaria infection.

If the lab technique works in the field, it could offer a new way of stopping the biting insects from spreading malaria to humans, they say. The scientists put a new "resistance" gene into the mosquito's own DNA, using a gene editing method called Crispr. And when the GM mosquitoes mated - their offspring inherited the same resistance, PNAS journal reports. In theory, if these mosquitoes bite people, they should not be able to pass on the parasite that causes malaria. About 3.2bn people - almost half of the world's population - are at risk of malaria. Bed nets, insecticides and repellents can help stop the insects biting and drugs can be given to anyone who catches the infection, but the disease still kills around 580,000 people a year.

'Pivotal role'

Scientists have been searching for new ways to fight malaria. The University of California team believe their GM mosquito could play a pivotal role - breeding resistant offspring to replace endemic, malaria-carrying mosquitoes. They took a type of mosquito found in India - Anopheles stephensi - on which to experiment. Dr Anthony James and his team showed that they could give the insect new DNA code to make it a poor host for the malaria parasite. The DNA, which codes for antibodies that combat the parasite, was inherited by almost 100% of the mosquito offspring and across three generations. The researchers say the findings offer hope that the same method could also work in other mosquito species.

Although it would not be a sole solution to the malaria problem, it would be a useful additional weapon, they say. Prof David Conway, UK expert from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "It's not the finished product yet but it certainly looks promising. It does look like the genetic editing works." Other scientists have been looking at genetically modifying mosquitoes to render them infertile, so that they die out. But some experts fear that eliminating mosquitoes entirely may have unforeseen and unwanted consequences. Replacing disease-carrying mosquitoes with harmless breeds is a potential alternative.

Mutant mosquitoes 'resist malaria' - BBC News

 

[waltky]

The dam provides an ideal breeding environment for the Anopheles mosquito...

Kenya's hydropower dams fuel malaria risk for villagers
7 Jan.`16 - Alfred Nyaga irrigates his acre of khat, a mild stimulant, in Kaloki village by pumping water with a diesel-powered engine directly from Kamburu Dam in central Kenya.

Each morning, he takes the khat he has harvested at night to sell at Kiritiri market, some 30 km (18.64 miles) from the village on a shrub-covered slope stretching to the hydropower dam's banks. Being so close to the reservoir means Nyaga and his four workers are often bitten by mosquitoes as they toil. “We have no other option because we have to work on our farms and we need the dam water,” said Nyaga. The dam provides an ideal breeding environment for the Anopheles mosquito, which carries the malaria parasite, putting local farmers and their families at risk of infection.

Bed nets to keep off the insects while sleeping are a must in the mud and tin-roofed houses that dot the landscape. Kenya’s hydropower dams benefit communities living on their banks by providing a plentiful source of water to irrigate crops. But the large reservoirs that feed them are also a habitat for mosquitoes, which thrive especially well in the shallow puddles that often form along their shorelines. African governments and the World Bank argue the continent needs hydropower dams to boost inadequate electricity supplies with a clean, renewable source of energy. Sub-Saharan Africa already has over 2,000 dams. But a study published last September in Malaria Journal warned that over 1 million people in sub-Saharan Africa would contract malaria in 2015 because they lived near a large dam.

The researchers, including experts from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), found that construction of an expected 78 major new dams in the region over the next few years would lead to an additional 56,000 malaria cases annually. Malaria impacts must be tackled so they do not undermine the sustainability of Africa’s drive for development, the study warned. It recommended distributing bed nets to people living within 5 km of dams. It also proposed operating schedules that dry out reservoir shoreline areas where mosquitoes breed at critical times, and introducing fish that eat mosquito larvae.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY?[/b]

 

[waltky]

Bill Gates, England announce funds to eradicate malaria...

Britain, Gates announce funds to eradicate malaria
Tue, Jan 26, 2016 - British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and tech billionaire Bill Gates yesterday unveiled a plan to spend billions of pounds to eradicate “the world’s deadliest killer” malaria.

Osborne and Gates announced ￡3 billion (US$4.28 billion) in funding over the next five years for research and to support efforts to eliminate the mosquito-borne disease, in a joint article in the Times. “When it comes to human tragedy, no creature comes close to the devastation caused by the mosquito,” the two wrote. “We both believe that a malaria-free world has to be one of the highest global health priorities.” The fund would be made up of ￡500 million per year from Britain’s overseas aid budget for the next five years, as well as US$200 million this year from The Gates Foundation, with more donations to follow. There were 438,000 malaria deaths last year, most of them of children aged younger than five, and the majority of them in Africa, according to the WHO.

Efforts to control the disease have made significant progress in the past 15 years, but are threatened by the spread of resistance to anti-malarial drugs and to insecticide, the WHO said in its World Malaria Report last year. “If new insecticides are not introduced by 2020, the situation will become critical and deaths could surge,” Osborne and Gates wrote, adding that fighting diseases required collaboration between private companies, governments and charities. “We are optimistic that in our lifetimes we can eradicate malaria and other deadly tropical diseases, and confront emerging threats, making the world a safer place for all,” the article concluded.

Microsoft co-founder Gates has turned his attention from software to fighting disease and other ills around the world with his wife, under the auspices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The charity has disbursed more than US$28 billion and provided funding for the world’s most clinically advanced malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, developed by GlaxoSmithKline. Mosquirix is the first malaria vaccine to reach Phase III clinical testing — the final stage before market approval — and the first to be assessed by regulators. It received a nod from European regulators in July last year.

A WHO expert panel in October last year recommended pilot trials of the vaccine involving young children in several areas of sub-Saharan Africa, before considering wider use. The WHO is expected to follow the panel’s recommendations, which could result in Mosquirix becoming the first licensed vaccine against a parasitic disease. However, a decision still lies a way off. The announcement comes days after Gates revealed plans for a US$100 million scheme to cut malnutrition in Nigeria.

Britain, Gates announce funds to eradicate malaria - Taipei Times

See also:

WHO Calls for Action to Tackle Threat of Emerging Diseases
January 25, 2016 — The director-general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, is calling for rapid action to tackle the growing threat of emerging diseases. At the opening of the agency’s week-long Executive Committee session, the WHO chief warned some major global health threats will demand urgent, collaborative action in the months ahead.

Chan appeared chastened when she told some 1,000 delegates attending the meeting that hard lessons have been learned from the Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 11,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. WHO was slow off the mark in addressing this unprecedented outbreak, causing the deadly virus to wreak havoc in West Africa and cause panic around the world before measures to contain the disease were fully implemented.

Reform

After a lot of soul searching and advice from experts, WHO has begun a reform process. Dr. Chan said she is determined to change the way the WHO responds to outbreaks and emergencies. “Ebola taught the world that an outbreak in any part of the world can have global repercussions…In a profoundly interconnected world, there is no such thing as a local outbreak and there is no such thing as a faraway war. As some assessments of the Ebola response have concluded, having strong public health infrastructures and capabilities in place in vulnerable countries is the first line of defense against the infectious disease threat,” said Dr. Chan. In the wake of Ebola, Chan said health officials are more alert to alarming signals coming from the microbial world. She cited the devastation caused by last year’s MERS outbreak in Korea, a country with an advanced health system.

Tackling emerging diseases

She said tackling emerging diseases becomes even more problematic in developing and emerging economies. She warns of the explosive spread of Zika virus to new geographical areas, with little population immunity. Zika is a mosquito-borne disease that is believed to cause neurological problems in newly born babies. Chan flagged antimicrobial resistance as a danger of the utmost urgency. She said more must be done to counter the growing threat from non-communicable diseases. She cautioned the world to be on alert to the emerging health consequences from climate change. She said programs must be sharpened for dealing with more outbreaks of cholera and dengue. Chan said more people will suffer from indoor and outdoor pollution and be vulnerable to health problems resulting from extreme weather events.

WHO Calls for Action to Tackle Threat of Emerging Diseases

 

[Muhammed]

[OP]
Beat Malaria for $1 a Shot[/quote]

 

[SixFoot]

I beat malaria for the low-low price of one Mefloquine a week. I'll be paying for that the rest of my life.