One of the deadliest diseases on earth may finally be coming to an end, thanks to research
by this year’s Nobel Prize winners.
The 2015 award in Physiology or Medicine went to three scientists working on eradicating
the disease, malaria.
Malaria is thought to be responsible for killing half of all humans who have ever lived, and
yet around the world rates of infection have been steadily dropping.
So we wanted to know: is this the end of malaria?
Well, malaria is a parasitically transmitted illness.
It relies on disease-carrying parasites, which are transmitted by one type of female mosquito,
called Anopheles.
That’s Greek for “useless”.
But despite their name, these insects kill about 600,000 people a year, or about the
entire death toll of the Civil War.
While this number seems massive, it is actually incredibly good news.
According to the World Health Organization, between 2000 and 2015, new cases of malaria
were cut by nearly 40% thanks to better prevention methods and resources.
Overall deaths from malaria fell by nearly two-thirds, with even lower rates among young
children.
This is incredible, considering that the primary methods of eliminating the disease are focused
on simply blocking mosquitos.
Nets treated with insecticide, along with anti-mosquito sprays have been used with such
effectiveness that since 2007, four countries have been certified as completely eliminating
the disease: The United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Turkmenistan, and Armenia.
Just this past year, 13 countries reported that they were malaria-free, and six more
reported less than ten cases.
At the same time, impoverished Sub-Saharan Africa has been struggling.
Worldwide, nine out of ten cases of malaria, and deaths from malaria are in the Sub-Saharan
region.
One of the biggest reasons for this is that the most effective defense is the ability
to monitor the spread of the disease.
But governments and health services of hard-hit countries are often inadequately able to access
and analyze disease trends.
This effort to fight malaria has been publicly spearheaded by philanthropists Bill and Melinda
Gates.
In Zambia, the Gates foundation contributed roughly 3 million mosquito nets, raising the
number of households with a net from about one in five to four in five.
Even something as simple as a net works to dramatically lower infection rates.
The more prevention there is, the fewer people need to be treated, and thus fewer people
are further infectious.
This not only frees up medical resources, but also creates a downwards spiral in disease
rates.
Thanks to the Word Health Organization, the UN, the Gates Foundation, and other NGOs,
some 55 countries in total are on track to cutting their case rates by 75%.
By 2030, the WHO hopes to cut infections and deaths from malaria by 90%, and to raise the
number of completely disease free countries to 35.
This year, the world saw the lowest rate of malaria deaths in history.
As more money, resources, and manpower is devoted, people like Bill Gates have predicted
that we may just see an end to malaria within a single generation.
Clearly, humans are able to successfully fight against disease and other killers.
How did we get so adept at survival?
Find out in TestTube Plus’ playlist at the top.
Down below, you can find out which countries have hacked survival and are living the longest.
Thanks for watching TestTube News!
If you haven’t subscribed, make sure you do so you don’t miss out on new videos.