Geographic Factors and Impacts: Malaria IB Geography II

Objective and Possible Exam Question  Evaluate the management strategies that have been applied in any one country or region for one disease.

“Today, 2,000 children will die because they were bitten by a mosquito, and it’s entirely preventable...”

Opening Activity  Mosquito Bites Can Kill (2:15)  re=player_embedded re=player_embedded

Global Distribution of Malaria What is the pattern you see? Take 2 minutes to write it down, cite specific examples to support your answer.

Where is Malaria Endemic?  In epidemiology, an infection is said to be endemic in a population when that infection is maintained in the population.  For example, chickenpox is endemic (steady state) here, but malaria is not.

Where is Malaria Endemic?

The Vector  What is a Vector again?  The Anopheles mosquito (and its parasite) both thrive in humid tropical areas.  Ideal conditions for it include areas of stagnant water and irrigation channels (usually found in densely populated agricultural areas)

Who’s Vulnerable?  Natural triggers include climatic variations and natural disasters  Human Triggers are conflict and war, agricultural projects and mining.  These factors modify the environment and increase the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria  Populations with already weak immune systems (high HIV rates)  Children  Pregnant women  Travellers and Refugees

Facts from WHO  About 3.3 billion people - half of the world's population - are at risk of malaria.  There are 106 malaria endemic countries.  Every year, this leads to about 250 million malaria cases and nearly one million deaths.  Malaria is especially a serious problem in Africa, where one in every five (20%) childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease.

Facts from WHO  An African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year.  Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria.  Malaria is the 4th leading cause of death for children globally.  Malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than U.S. $12 billion every year in lost economic productivity, and can cost households as much as 32% of their monthly income.

Facts from WHO  Insecticide-treated bed nets could prevent as many as 1 million deaths from all causes of malaria for children under 5.  If universal malaria prevention could be maintained by 2015, an estimated 2.95 million African children’s lives could be saved.

Malaria Areas

The Cost of Malaria  To Individual Households: medication, doctor’s fees, preventative measures (bed nets), inability to work during attacks which reduces income by up to 25%  To the Government: Public health spending on malaria treatment costs up to 40% of all national health expenditures each year.

Malaria Management  Remember the following information about the disease:  Mosquitoes are more active at night.  Being inside a building does not guarantee protection.  There are two obvious strategies which are used  Protect humans from mosquito attack.  Reduce the population of mosquitoes.

Bed Nets  Malaria nets are covered with insect repellent, as well as providing a physical barrier to the insects at a time when people are particularly vulnerable.  They are also known as Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) or Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs).

Anti-Malarial Drugs  Drugs are expensive, and there are millions of people who would need to be taking them, which could mean that they lose some of the natural resistance that they could have.  Drugs companies make millions of dollars from drugs, which are not necessarily supplied at the cheapest possible price.  Many aid agencies and organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation distribute drugs in places where malaria is having a major impact.

Reflection questions on anti-malaria drugs: Discuss with your elbow partner for 3 minutes  How realistic would it be to distribute drugs to all the people living in countries where malaria is endemic?  Do drugs lose their effectiveness if used on a large scale, and over a long period of time?

Targeting Mosquito Larvae in Places Where they Breed  This strategy involves reducing the areas of stagnant water where the mosquito might breed.  Open water should be covered, redundant irrigation channels should be filled in, and open drains avoided.  The scale of the problem means this is likely to prove difficult to achieve.  Fish can also be stocked into ponds to eat the larvae. This has the added bonus of providing a potential sustainable food supply too.  The use of insecticides is expensive, and can contaminate groundwater.  Insects also build up resistance to the insecticides over time.

Malaria Vaccine Trials in Tanzania  D9M&feature=player_embedded (1:01) D9M&feature=player_embedded

Management Strategies in Kenya  -wLs&feature=player_embedded (7:45) -wLs&feature=player_embedded

Bill Gates Ted Talk  Bill Gates on mosquitos, malaria and education  pZ0 (20 minutes) pZ0