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Malaria’s death toll shocking but can be cut to zero by 2015
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04/23/09 11:55 AM ET
Malaria is disease that causes more than 1 million deaths each year, and the vast majority of those deaths are children under the age of 5. Here in the U.S., where malaria was eradicated some 50 years ago, it is easy to think that malaria is not an important issue. We can sit in our back yards and not have to worry about whether or not the mosquito that bites us is infected with the disease.
However, the reality is that malaria is our issue. We live in a world that grows smaller every day. There may be no more glaring example of the importance of investing in the fight against global diseases than the 2007 case of Andrew Speaker. This young lawyer from Atlanta, infected with the highly dangerous and often fatal extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), traveled to Europe and back to the U.S. through Canada. We will never know how many people he infected along the way. What we do know is that this was a wake-up call that global health challenges can and do affect us here in the U.S.
Serving on the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee as chairman and as a member, respectively, we have made several trips to Africa and have seen the devastating affects of this disease on the poor and the young. Malaria is a parasitic disease that claims the lives of nearly 3,000 African children each day — that’s about one child every 30 seconds. This is an astonishing statistic considering the most effective malaria treatment costs only a few dollars.
Malaria is a major concern that takes a toll not only on healthcare budgets but on African economies as a whole. African governments spend an estimated 40 percent of healthcare budgets on malaria, working to educate, prevent and treat the disease with the goal of ultimately ending the vicious cycle of poverty.
Along with the cost of healthcare, there is a huge economic loss. More than $12 billion in productivity and resources are lost due to malaria. The 250 million people who become sick with the symptoms of fever and headache aren’t able to go to work or school, and healthy family members are forced to leave work to care for their ill relatives.
With the advancements in medicine and the low cost of treatment, there is no reason for malaria to infect millions of people in 106 countries. Malaria is preventable, treatable and curable and that’s why we took steps to bring attention to this in the international community by organizing the Congressional Malaria Caucus. We need help fighting against malaria and we need an increase in support to stop the spread of the disease.
Last year we voted to approve the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. This authorized $1 billion in funding for programs to combat malaria for five years. This is only a fraction of the global estimate of $4.2 billion needed each year to fight malaria, but it shows is a very serious commitment to malaria that we are proud of.
Since we founded the Congressional Malaria Caucus in 2008, we have aggressively worked to raise awareness. April 25 of each year is recognized internationally as Africa Malaria Day and in the United States as Malaria Awareness Day. We recently introduced a House resolution that supports the goals and ideals of Malaria Awareness Day and whose passage will show Congress’s continued commitment to fighting and beating malaria.
The U.S. has done a great deal already on malaria. We can and must do better. It is in our best interest to defeat conditions that produce despair and can be exploited by extremists.
Fortunately, we have the tools to stop malaria in its tracks. Spraying homes with insecticides in targeted areas and providing families insecticide-treated bed nets to sleep under are methods to prevent malaria. We must also work to increase the availability of medicines that treat malaria.
These simple steps will help us eradicate malaria deaths by 2015. This is a very attainable goal. We have seen success in Ethiopia where the cases of malaria fell 60 percent and the deaths decreased by 51 percent in just two years. In Zanzibar, malaria in school children was reduced from 60 percent to about 1 percent. These are excellent results and we are building on this momentum.
In the time it took you to read this, a child died from malaria. We can stop this tragedy from continuing. Programs like the president’s Malaria Initiative and Global Fund are actively working to get rid of malaria and we can support their efforts to rid the world of this devastating disease.
Payne and Boozman are members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the co-chairmen of the Congressional Malaria Caucus.
However, the reality is that malaria is our issue. We live in a world that grows smaller every day. There may be no more glaring example of the importance of investing in the fight against global diseases than the 2007 case of Andrew Speaker. This young lawyer from Atlanta, infected with the highly dangerous and often fatal extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), traveled to Europe and back to the U.S. through Canada. We will never know how many people he infected along the way. What we do know is that this was a wake-up call that global health challenges can and do affect us here in the U.S.
Malaria is a major concern that takes a toll not only on healthcare budgets but on African economies as a whole. African governments spend an estimated 40 percent of healthcare budgets on malaria, working to educate, prevent and treat the disease with the goal of ultimately ending the vicious cycle of poverty.
Along with the cost of healthcare, there is a huge economic loss. More than $12 billion in productivity and resources are lost due to malaria. The 250 million people who become sick with the symptoms of fever and headache aren’t able to go to work or school, and healthy family members are forced to leave work to care for their ill relatives.
With the advancements in medicine and the low cost of treatment, there is no reason for malaria to infect millions of people in 106 countries. Malaria is preventable, treatable and curable and that’s why we took steps to bring attention to this in the international community by organizing the Congressional Malaria Caucus. We need help fighting against malaria and we need an increase in support to stop the spread of the disease.
Last year we voted to approve the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. This authorized $1 billion in funding for programs to combat malaria for five years. This is only a fraction of the global estimate of $4.2 billion needed each year to fight malaria, but it shows is a very serious commitment to malaria that we are proud of.
Since we founded the Congressional Malaria Caucus in 2008, we have aggressively worked to raise awareness. April 25 of each year is recognized internationally as Africa Malaria Day and in the United States as Malaria Awareness Day. We recently introduced a House resolution that supports the goals and ideals of Malaria Awareness Day and whose passage will show Congress’s continued commitment to fighting and beating malaria.
The U.S. has done a great deal already on malaria. We can and must do better. It is in our best interest to defeat conditions that produce despair and can be exploited by extremists.
Fortunately, we have the tools to stop malaria in its tracks. Spraying homes with insecticides in targeted areas and providing families insecticide-treated bed nets to sleep under are methods to prevent malaria. We must also work to increase the availability of medicines that treat malaria.
These simple steps will help us eradicate malaria deaths by 2015. This is a very attainable goal. We have seen success in Ethiopia where the cases of malaria fell 60 percent and the deaths decreased by 51 percent in just two years. In Zanzibar, malaria in school children was reduced from 60 percent to about 1 percent. These are excellent results and we are building on this momentum.
In the time it took you to read this, a child died from malaria. We can stop this tragedy from continuing. Programs like the president’s Malaria Initiative and Global Fund are actively working to get rid of malaria and we can support their efforts to rid the world of this devastating disease.
Payne and Boozman are members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the co-chairmen of the Congressional Malaria Caucus.
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