The miseries of Malaria
The death toll and the number of infected patients of Covid19 pandemic is rising day by day. However, where it has gripped the world in its fear and all of us as a global society are grappling with its consequences, it should also be acknowledged that its threat is mainly due to its being highly contagious; otherwise one of its more alarming consequences has been to augment our vulnerability for other diseases such as malaria. Thus to educate ourselves and to bring to our notice the miseries incurred by a mere mosquito bite as in malaria, every 25th of April is globally recognized as the world malaria day.
Though a preventable and curable disease, every year there are more than 200 million new cases of malaria. According to WHO’s world malaria report, there was an admirably noteworthy decrease in the deaths of malaria-infected patients between 2000 to 2014, from an estimated 743,000 to 446,000 which makes about 40% of malaria patients across the globe. Nevertheless, in more recent years this progress has been diminished to a standstill. According to WHO’s world malaria report of 2019, the number of malaria caused deaths in 2018 was the same as in the previous year, and there was no global gain in reducing the number of newly infected patients from 2014 to 2018. This goes to show that had there been a consistently progressive and focused effort from all of us together to battle malaria and prevent its miseries, all these lost lives could have been saved. Consequently, we need to redouble our efforts as a global community to involve all segments of our respective societies to break this standstill and reduce the ratio of worldwide malaria caused deaths.
For a disease like malaria does not only concern its patient but is a matter of consideration for the entire society. All the political leaders who are policymakers and have the budget to employ their resources to see effective implementation of their policies for a malaria-free country, all those businesses and organizations who rely upon a malaria-free workforce for the proper functioning of their respective enterprises, and above all, those who have either experienced malaria in an individual capacity or have felt its miseries in a friend, a group or a community, should be keenly aware of their responsibilities in answer to this call to action. For only with a joint effort can we hope to survive the Covid19 pandemic and its magnified miseries of other diseases like malaria.
So let us all re-evaluate our position in these days, and not be guilty of inaction. Let us all play our part in saving a life or curing somebody of the sufferings of illnesses like malaria. Let our answers defined to us the extent of our humanity!