Only a Clean Environment Sustainably Kicks Out Malaria

Cause of the death of a child every second, infects 350-500 million people every year, and kills more than 1 million people in the world. These are the numbers, which according to the United Nations’ Children Funds(UNICEF), which best describe the toll of Malaria on  our world’s inhabitants- especially  those in Africa where more than 90% of  Malaria deaths occur and where Malaria accounts for more than 20 % of child deaths(UNICEF)

Women and children suffer from Malaria. When infected during pregnancy, the toll of Malaria is heavier not only on the mother but above all on the child. This is because Malaria is associated with severe anaemia and a host of illnesses affecting the pregnant woman and her unborn baby. The health of the pregnant woman thus made fragile, the risk of giving birth to a child with high exposure to sub-optimal growth and development hazards which are also leading causes of infant mortality.

Recent research has proven that a combination of Malaria and HIV is an explosive cocktail. According to scientists, Placental malaria increases the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission. This besides the above makes Malaria the number one killer disease in Africa (http://www.thebody.com/content/art13512.html)

The above statistics and facts from the United Nations Children Fund(UNICEF) on Malaria leaves no one indifferent and is the reason why Combating Malaria has in recent times become such a priority to governments in Africa and the rest of the developing world. The fight against Malaria by the international community it should be acknowledged has transcended speeches and declarations to become effective action. Thus in a bid to eradicate this disease and its effects on the maternal and child health, many initiatives have been taken.

 LAUDABLE BUT NOT VERY EFFICIENT APPROACH TO KICK OUT MALARIA

While international donors, governments, and Non-Governmental Organizations are to be lauded for these initiatives, the efficiency of the approaches adopted by policy makers to fight against Malaria is questionable and merits to be carefully reconsidered.

‘Malaria is a very bad disease; Malaria is a very bad disease. We must drive mosquitoes away’. This is the chorus of a song we sang during our hygiene classes in primary school. This song moves on to say how we must keep our environment clean by avoiding stagnant waters around the home to drive Mosquitoes away. As illustrated by wordings from this primary school song, the environment in which one lives determines how prone one is or is not to been infected by Malaria.

THE BEST DEFENCE IS ATTACK

In a country with majority of its people in rural areas and living below the poverty line and where poor housing and horrible living conditions are the order of the day , the fight against malaria should not be limited to the distribution of Mosquito treated bed nets and making the treatment of Malaria free to children below 5 years. While these moves are laudable, their sustainability is in doubt as this could be fairly compared to problem reduction rather than problem solving.

Most people in Cameroon, daily use the saying that, the best way to defend one’s self or property is to attack all those who are considered as threats. Personally, I do not totally agree with this saying but when it comes to the fight against malaria, I think the saying makes sense. Conscious of the  fact that  warm climates, which are predominant in Africa,  are a very important factor to  the development and survival of both  the mosquito and  malaria parasite(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100303162906.htm ), it is but normal it is a reality that the fight against malaria would be more efficient if the fight is not against malaria but against Mosquitoes and I think there is no better way of attacking them than by attacking their habitat.

SUSTAIN THE ENVIRONMENT TO SUSTAIN GAINS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST MALARIA

I am intimately convinced that, if people keep their environment clean and avoid all those behaviours which are favourable conditions for the establishment and proliferation of mosquitoes, Malaria will be made history. Such behaviours will of course only be sustained by government’s action in this light. Thus, if accompanied by laws and policies which encourages individual initiatives to keep the environment clean, safe, and free of mosquitoes  while punishing not only individuals but also the business community for any acts perpetrated by them which are harmful to the environment Malaria will be out powered. Trying to make Malaria history by merely providing   insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), as it s done now, will only contribute to making this dream a nightmare.

Therefore, as governments and international funding bodies involve in the fight against malaria organize events and activities to mark this year’s World Malaria Day(celebrated under the theme: Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria) on April 25th, they must keep in mind for any  fight against Malaria and its effects on infant and maternal health to bear fruits that will last, environmental protection   must be  put at the heart of Malaria eradication programs and  the living conditions of the people in Malaria prone areas , through various empowerment and poverty alleviation  programs,  must be improved upon. This is imperative if Cameroon, which is ranked 18th amongst the 20 countries in the world with the highest mortality for children under the age of 5, is to achieve the Health related Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) and make real its dreams of becoming an emerging nation by 2035.

Besides the above, environmental  policies which severely punishes  corporations, which through industrial activities, contributes to making our climate  warmer, thereby providing a fertile ground for the proliferation of mosquitoes and spread of Malaria, should put in place by governments to reduce global warming and the spread of Malaria.

Truly, to sustain gains and save Lives from the wrath of Malaria, we should invest in making our environment cleaner, safer, and more sustainable.

Agriculture: Ultimate Way Out of Poverty

Malaria is the first cause of death in Cameroon and many other African countries. Reason why Combating Malaria is such a priority to governments in Africa and the rest of the international community. The international community’s concern for the fight against malaria was more explicitly made manifest at the UN millennium General Assembly during which world leaders included the fight against malaria and other diseases in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

So many initiatives have been carried out by Cameroon’s government with the support of international donors like the world fund for the fight against Malaria in the past decade. The K.O Malaria campaign launched on the 20^th of August 2011 by Cameroon’s Prime Minister and head of government in the presence of a host of national and international dignitaries and celebrities is one of such initiatives. This campaign aims to distribute 8.5 million treated mosquito nets to Cameroon’s more than 20 million inhabitants and raise the user-rate of treated mosquito nets from 15 to 80%.

The current 15% treated mosquito net user-rate compared to efforts by the government and its partners kick malaria out of Cameroon is very disappointing and makes the effectiveness and efficiency of mosquito nets distribution campaigns questionable. The already low treated mosquito net user-rate could be even lower if the effective use of these nets is measured instead. This is because in Cameroon, the need to survive has caused a good proportion of people who have received mosquito nets to use them more for other things than protecting themselves of mosquito bites. This is the case with people living in marshy areas who, pushed to the wall by poverty and the necessity to survive, have turned their treated mosquito bed nets into fishing nets. Part of the catch serves as food and the rest is sold to provide for other basic necessities of these people.

The impact of this important and laudable initiative is thus not felt with the desired the intensity and the fight against malaria is slowed down by practices like the above. But is it wrong for a person who does not have food and lack the means of paying his/her health bills to use a treated mosquito bed net to catch fish which can partly provide for his needs? How do we fight against extreme poverty, reduce hunger, eradicate illiteracy, reduce infant mortality, improve maternal health care, achieve gender equality, fight against diseases, ensure environmental sustainability in an integrated and coordinated way? This question raises the problem of the poverty alleviation strategies and other development policies.

The fight against extreme poverty and hunger, the eradication illiteracy, reducing infant mortality, improving maternal health care, achieving gender equality, fighting against diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and establishing a partnership for development  constitute what is commonly referred to as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  which are contained in the UN’s Millennium Declaration of September 2000. This document has since its adoption by the Un General Assembly become the framework and reference document of many developing countries like Cameroon. Cameroon’s Vision 2035 and Nigeria’s Vision 202020 just to name these are examples of visions which are a contextualisation of the MDGs to local and national realities.

The 8 MDGs are intimately related and there is no doubt that the achievement of one depends on the achievement of the other. The inter relatedness of MDGs though an advantage, makes it difficult for policy makers to map out clear and sustainable strategies to effectively tackle the challenges our world faces. The interdependent nature of MDGs makes imperative the use of an integrated approach to fight extreme poverty, reduce hunger, eradicate illiteracy, reduce infant mortality, improve maternal health care, achieve gender equality, fight against diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and achieve a partnership for development at community, national, and international level. But how can this be done?

The answer to this question is attempted in next article.