Malaria is an infectious disease that is spread by the female Anopheles mosquito. A mosquito is infected with the protozoan parasite (genus Plasmodium) when it ingests blood from an infected person. After a mosquito is infected, it infects each subsequent victim. The parasite first heads to the infected person’s liver, where it grows and infects red blood cells. The parasite then begins to multiply. Malaria can cause cerebral malaria, and death, sometimes within the first 24 hours of infection, giving precious little time to seek medical help. However, the malaria parasite can stay dormant in an infected person’s liver for months, and sometimes up to a year, before striking.

Those who reside in tropical and sub-tropical countries are those who are affected the most, as malaria has been successfully eradicated in most developed countries. Children and pregnant women in general are more prone to malaria because of weaker immune systems.

41% of the world’s population still lives in regions where malaria is rampant. Malaria is the cause of 1 million deaths each year. In Africa alone, malaria is the cause of over 3000 deaths in children - almost one death every 30 seconds.

Malaria is caused by the female Anopheles mosquito, which carries the malaria parasite within the blood it consumes. When the mosquito feeds off of another person, the parasite is spread.

When Malaria is first induced, victims may suffer shaking chills, high fever, and general unease, These are caused by the body trying to fend off the malaria attack. The parasites multiply within red blood cells, causing symptoms of anemia (light headedness, shortness of breath, tachycardia etc.), as well as other general symptoms such as muscle ache, tiredness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, kidney failure, seizures, and in severe cases, coma and death.

Malaria can be treated with a number of different medications. While chloroquine, otherwise known as Aralen, is the cheapest, and most common, the malaria parasite is growing resistant to it, and other chemicals must be found before another epidemic occurs. Medications can be combined to increase the efficiency of both, while reducing the chance that the parasite will develop resistance to it. In March 2007, the drug company Sanofi-Aventis released a new, cheap, anti-malarial pill (CNN, 1 March 2007).

There are many ways to prevent malaria, and all are cheaper than treating it. Using a bed net when sleeping reduces the chance of being bitten by a mosquito significantly. Although bed nets are relatively cheap, only 15% of African children sleep under a bed net, but only 2% are treated with insecticide. When this bed net is insecticide treated, the chances of being bitten are reduced even farther. Other methods are to spray the inside walls of a house with small quantities of insecticide, so that the mosquito cannot survive inside of the home.

Michael G (14) and Patrick G (12), Doors to Diplomacy 2007