World Malaria Report Inconclusive on Africa
-
Credit: Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationThe World Health Organization's World Malaria Report for 2012 marks a critical point in the race toward the Millennium Development Goals deadline in 2015. The sixth MDG calls upon nations to combat malaria along with HIV/AIDS and other threatening diseases.
-
Credit: Palle Peter Skov/Vestergaard FrandsenFour African nations became certified by the WHO as malaria-free in 2012. Lesotho, Seychelles, Libya and Tunisia were all added to the list in the past year.
-
Credit: Ron Haviv/RBMThe Roll Back Malaria (RBM) campaign charged nations with the task of reducing hospital admissions rates for malaria by at least 75 percent by 2015. Nine African nations have achieved such a reduction rate or are on track to do so by the deadline.
-
Credit: John-Michael Maas/GlaxoSmithKlineThose nine – Algeria, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Rwanda, Eritrea, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland - join 41 other nations on track to meet the goal worldwide. Those 50 countries, however, only account for 15 percent of malaria cases around the world.
-
Credit: Gates FoundationWHO tracked 104 malaria-endemic countries. 58 countries submitted what it considered sufficient data to draw conclusions about the state of malaria on Earth. Only 36 of the 47 African nations in the report submitted sufficient data.
-
Credit: David Poland/PATH Malaria Vaccine InitiativeFor example, the island of Zanzibar is thought to have reduced admissions by 75 percent as requested by RBM. However, Zanzibar is not grouped with the other nine nations to meet that milestone due to discrepancies in reporting.
-
Credit: Catherine Karnow/RBMStill the WHO attributes increases in incidence and admissions rates likely to better reporting and increased access to health facilities.
-
Credit: Olyset NetZambia and Madagascar are both on track to achieve decreases in hospital admissions rates between 50 and 75 percent, leaving them close to the RBM goal with still a ways to go before the 2015 deadline.
-
Credit: M. Hallahan/Sumitomo Chemical Co. LtdIn many cases, funding amounts and percentages of people receiving some type of treatment or preventative intervention plateaued at the same time. The report claims if funding increases halt, so will progress rates.
Comments Post a comment