About Malaria
The Preventable and Treatable Disease
Malaria is a disease of the blood that is caused by a parasite transmitted from person- to- person by certain types of mosquitoes. Malaria symptoms, which appear about nine to 14 days after the infectious mosquito bite, include fever, headache, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms. If drugs are not available for treatment or if the parasites are resistant to them, the infection can lead to coma, severe life-threatening anemia, and death by infecting and destroying red blood cells and by clogging the capillaries that carry blood to the brain (cerebral malaria) or other vital organs. Worldwide, malaria causes approximately 350 to 500 million illnesses and more than one million deaths annually.
Malaria is particularly devastating in Africa, where it kills an African child every 30 seconds. Many children who survive an episode of severe malaria may suffer from learning impairments or brain damage. Pregnant women and their unborn children are also particularly vulnerable to malaria, which, during pregnancy, is a major cause of mortality, low birth weight and maternal anemia.
Malaria also produces devastating economic and social tolls. Annual economic loss in Africa due to malaria is estimated to be $12 billion, representing a crippling 1.3 percent annual loss in GDP growth in endemic countries. Malaria becomes a self-perpetuating problem, where the disease prevents the human and economic capital necessary to bring the disease under control. Moreover, malaria disproportionately affects the rural poor who can neither afford a bed net for prevention, nor access appropriate treatment when they fall sick.