Anti-malarial drug resistance a major challenge: World Malaria Day (25 April)

World Malaria Day, 25 April
[हिंदी] According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anti-malarial drug resistance is a major public health problem which hinders the control of malaria. Resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to choloroquine, the cheapest and the most used drug, is spreading in almost all the endemic countries. Resistance to the combination of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine which was already present in South America and in South-East Asia is now emerging in East Africa.

According to the WHO, the problem of antimalarial drug resistance is aggravated by the existence of cross resistance among drugs belonging to the same chemical family.

According to the WHO, in 2009, about 3.3 billion people - half of the world's population - were at risk of malaria. Although malaria is preventable and curable, every year, this leads to about 250 million malaria cases and nearly 800 thousand deaths. In Africa a child dies every 45 seconds of Malaria, the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths. People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes.

Malaria can decrease gross domestic product by as much as 1.3% in countries with high disease rates.

According to the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, reducing the impact of malaria is key to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, agreed by every United Nations Member State. These include not only combating the disease itself, but also goals related to women's and children's rights and health, access to education and the reduction of extreme poverty.
CNS

Published in:
Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand 
Wikio News.com, California, U.S.A.
The States Times, Jammu & Kashmir
Elites TV, California, USA