There is an infectious disease that kills one child every two minutes. Malaria. The number of deaths has been halved in the past 10 years, and UN agencies are aiming to bring the deaths close to zero by 2030, but the damage is still serious, especially in Africa. At the end of August, I asked two representatives of an organization that came to Japan to end malaria in conjunction with the 7th African Development Conference (TICAD7) in Yokohama.
Malaria is transmitted by being bitten by mosquitoes that carry malaria parasites. The malaria parasite that has entered the body grows in the red blood cells and destroys the red blood cells. After fever, the function of various organs declines, leading to the worst death. It is said that severe treatment can be prevented if treated within 24 hours of fever.
According to a 2018 report from the World Health Organization (WHO), there were an estimated 219 million malaria cases in 87 countries worldwide in 2017. It is estimated that 435,000 people died. Ninety percent of those who died were African people, and 60 percent were children under the age of five.
Since 2000, the number has declined significantly. Dr. Abdullaham Dialo, representative of the global organization “Rollback Malaria Partnership” aimed at eradicating malaria, saw the main reasons for the decline: ▽ The spread of mosquito nets with insecticides, simple diagnostic kits, and therapeutic drugs ▽ List politicians from various countries and their willingness to eradicate them. Mr. Diaro said, “It ’s not one of them, but they work well together, and they ’re doing great things.” “We saved 7 million lives and prevented 1 billion infections. Is also historically large. "
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