malaria

Vanuatu achieves 95% reduction in malaria burden

Last year there were 502 malaria cases nationwide.

There have been no deaths since 2012. 

A Ministry of Health report stated the few remaining malaria hot spots are in the three provinces of MALAMPA, SHEFA and SANMA, with 94% of cases on the islands of Malekula, Santo and Epi. 

Transmitted through the bite of a mosquito, one of the best prevention measures against malaria is to ensure everyone sleeps under an insecticide treated net. 

Tafea province successfully eliminated malaria in 2014 and has managed to maintain zero local cases since then.

New equipment to boost Vanuatu Health Ministry's malaria data collection capacity

The Ensure 81% Coverage of Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets Programme, which is funded by UNDP-Global Fund Western Pacific HIV, TB and Malaria Programmes donated the resources.

The donation is part of ongoing support to the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme to strengthen surveillance and effectively control malaria in four provinces and strive for elimination in two provinces.

A total of 36 national and provincial staff received the resources for data entry of line lists of malaria cases in the tracker module at health facilities.

Carbs could be key to effective malaria vaccine

Experts from Melbourne independent medical research centre, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, have discovered carbohydrates play a vital role in the malaria parasite's infection of humans.

Justin Boddey and his team made the discovery, which debunks the long-held belief that the single-celled malaria parasite only uses proteins to infect humans.

"So what this research has shown is that the parasite tags many of the proteins on its surface with carbohydrates," he told AM.

Extreme gardening to help tackle malaria

A team tested their idea in nine villages in the arid Bandiagara district of Mali, West Africa.

Removing flowers from a common shrub appeared to kill off lots of the older, adult, female, biting insects that transmit malaria.

Without enough nectar the "granny" mosquitoes starve, experts believe.

Killing granny

Getting rid of the mature females can stop the cycle of malaria transmission.

These Anopheles mosquitoes carry the malaria parasite in their salivary glands and pass it on to people when they bite and draw blood.

Greece bans blood donations in 12 districts over malaria - reports

In the 61 other cases recorded, the sufferers became infected on the Indian subcontinent and African states, where the disease is endemic.

The districts affected stretch from the Peloponnese to Thessaloniki.

Domestic cases were first reported four years ago - nearly four decades after the disease was wiped out in Greece.

Budget cuts saw municipal spraying schemes to combat mosquito-borne diseases being cut back.

 

Global malaria target met amid sharp drop in cases

According to a new United Nations report: “Global malaria control is one of the great public health success stories of the past 15 years,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO). “It’s a sign that our strategies are on target, and that we can beat this ancient killer, which still claims hundreds of thousands of lives, mostly children, each year.”