The World Health Organization released its 2009 World Malaria Report yesterday.  The Report is a summation of data results in 2008 in the fight against malaria.  The Malaria Policy Center will be taking a look at some of the results, by area, over the next few days.  In general, there is much to celebrate in the Report. With the scale up in funding over the past few years more households own a bednet, more children are being treated with the proper medication and less people are suffering and dying from malaria.  But there are still great challenges that lay ahead.

Today, the Policy Center is examining the effects of investing in malaria on child health.   Malaria is a unrelenting killer of children.  In Africa, malaria accounts for 16% of all deaths among children under five.  This translates to between 700,000 and 800,000 deaths per year.  Malaria disproportionately affects young children because they have not developed an immunity to the parasite at that juncture in their young lives.  A newborn starts being vulnerable to malaria at four months of age when the maternal immunity to diseases diminishes. Children infected with the parasite will then start getting two to five malarial fevers every year.

For these dire reasons, funding for malaria preventions, especially for children, has been emphasized.  Recent interventions in malaria have not only protected children from malaria, but helped drive all-cause mortality among children down.  Large decreases in malaria cases and deaths have been mirrored by steep declines in all-cause deaths among children under the age of 5.  In Zambia, all cause child mortality rates fell by 35% during the same period that corresponding malaria infection rates fell.  Evidence from Sao Tome and Principe as well as Zanzibar is also producing similar results. 

These strong correlations demonstrate that continued investment in malaria can help African countries achieve the Millennium Development goal of  reducing child mortality two-thirds by 2015.  In fact, addressing child health cannot be done without addressing malaria and the results of the 2009 World Malaria Report demonstrate the success the global health community has already achieved. 

Tomorrow:  Maternal Health

Tags: Child health, Child Mortality, World Health Organization, World Malaria Report

Tags: Child health, Child Mortality, World Health Organization, World Malaria Report
Categories:Health & Science