Appendix 7 MALARIA the strategies / control methods and their effectiveness There no one solution to preventing malaria. A combination of strategies, combined with increased public awareness (e.g. W.H.O.’s ‘Roll Back Malaria’ campaign) will be needed to keep malaria in check. ‘The primary method is to attack and attempt to eradicate the vector, i.e. the female anoph Other ieles mosquito by the following methods; Insecticides such as DD'T are sprayed on the breeding grounds, around houses and shaded areas. This was cheap and effective (e.g. in India cases dropped from 80 million to 50,000) but environmentally harmful as it poisoned other wildlife and vegetation. It was globally banned in 2007, Mosquitoes have also built up a resistance to the inxecticide and “super” mosquitoes evolved. + The use of newer stronger insecticides such as Malathion. This is however more expensive the DDT, and has an unpleasant odour and LEDCs cannot afford them, e.g. Florida spend $300 million a year to keep Malaria at bay with spraying. Mosquitoes always evolve immunity though! “Mustard seeds are added to the surface of stagnant water and drag the mosquito larvae below the surface and drown them. Egg white or oils can be sprayed on stagnant water suffocating the larvae, Both these strategies are wasteful of foodstuffs in LEDCs and very hard to implement. * BTI bacteria that grow in coconuts, the broken coconuts are thrown into the mosquito -infested areas. The larvae eat the bacteria and their stomach linings are destroyed. This is a cheaper than insecticides, to produce, environmentally friendly and coconuts are plentiful in tropical areas. methods are associated with preventing people from catching Malaria and treating those suffering from the disease. Anti- & & Education about the caus em Malarial Drugs attack the plasmodium parasite within the bloodstream Chloroquine ~easy to use, cheap but the parasites have developed resistance 10 it and it is now 50% effective Larium — more powerful and gives greater protection (80 ~ 90%) but has harmful side effects and is still based on the quinine molecule that parasites can evolve immunity to. “© Vaccinations based on the Ching hao plant — still at the experimental stages. A vaccine would be easier to administer and give more lasting protection but political (it was found in China) and economic reasons are blocking it as there is a lack of investment from MEDC and big pharmaceutical companies to develop it. s, effet and prevention as well as the ehanging of the ‘onment that it thrives in are now being seen as more effective, 47+ PHC and Health education about malarial causes and the symptoms can help slow the spread however it does take time and needs widespread investment in health education projects. “© Drainage or removal of swamps, stagnant water areas and standing water e.g. puddles, as well as covering open water supplies e.g. wells stops the breeding grounds. This requires considerable effort, and is not particularly practical in tropical environments given that it will rain + Use a insect repellent will stop people being bitten and covering exposed skin in the evenings when mosquitoes are rife is but repellent is expensive for poor rural farmers. Sleep in a screened room under a mosquito net, preferably sprayed with insecticide will stop people being bitten when mosquitoes are most active at night and they are distributed free by the World Health Organisation (WHO.) “ Painting the comers of rooms etc white will deny mosquitoes the shaded areas to rest and digest blood meals within homes and help remove them from homes, however this can take a lot of time and is not cost free either. All these methods are relatively cheap, not very difficult to implement, are able to reach large numbers of people and are examples of Primary Health Care strategies. 48