World Malaria Day: April 25, 2016
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April 25th, 2016
End Malaria for Good: That is the theme for the World Malaria Day 2016 set by the World Health Organisation, reflecting the vision of a malaria-free world as it has been set out in the “Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030”. The new strategy adopted in 2015 by the World Health Assembly, aims to dramatically lower the global malaria burden by at least 90% by 2030, to eliminate the disease in at least 35 countries by 2030 and to prevent its resurgence in all countries that are malaria-free. According to WHO’s “World malaria report 2015”, almost 3.2 billion of people– nearly half of the world’s population- are at risk to become ill due to malaria, while in 2015 there were an estimated 214 million new cases of malaria and 438,000 deaths, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2000 and 2015 57 countries reduced malaria cases by at least 75 percent and the rates of mortality have decreased by 60% for all ages and 65% for children younger than 5 years old. Malaria is an infectious disease caused by the parasitic protozoa "Plasmodium Malariae”. This disease is transmitted mainly by bite of the infected mosquitoes of the genus' Anopheles, meaning useless in Greek. These mosquitos show greater activity from dusk till dawn laying 50-200 eggs per oviposition singly and directly on water.  
The clinical picture of the disease varies from asymptomatic (in individuals from endemic countries that were ill previously and develop partial immunity to disease) to severe illness and death. Symptoms of the disease (paroxysmal intense chills, high fever, sweating, malaise, headache and myalgia) usually appear one to four weeks after infection, and can even have a long-term effect of frequent relapses up to five years after. Travellers from non-endemic countries are not immune to malaria and are very vulnerable to the disease when infected.
Malaria is curable and is treated effectively by using special classes of antimalarials. If diagnosed early accompanied by sufficient treatment, malaria can be completely removed from the body. Malaria eradicated in Greece at 1974. According to recent epidemic results, the possibility of malaria reappearance exists in some areas, where they combine the presence of the appropriate transmitters (Anopheles Mosquitos) and the presence of the diseased people coming from endemic countries. To effectively and comprehensively approach this problem, it is significant to maintain a high level of preparedness for health services, public health and environmental health and also to facilitate the access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria for vulnerable population. As regard to the refugee and immigrant population it is essential to ensure the appropriate living conditions and the access to public health services, regardless of residence legalizing documents in the country, so, the potential cases of malaria can be diagnosed and treated in an quick and efficient way, and to prevent any further transmission of the parasite to the transmitters in our country. Meanwhile, the competent departments should take care of preventing the creation of “hot spots” close to habitats, as the refugee and immigrant population is possible to come or pass through countries where the disease is endemic. Furthermore, the systematic sprays, in the areas where refugees are installed, should be of great importance in order to avoid the development of disease due to Anopheles mosquitoes. http://www.who.int/campaigns/malaria-day/2016/event/en/ |