Malaria in Ethiopia

• What percentage does the WHO suggest that diseases associated with poverty account for the disease burden in the poorest countries?

  45%
• Why do LIDCs have a high prevalence of communicable diseases?

  Social - Poor housing

  Economic - burden of healthcare costs

  Political - people on lower incomes have little political power to make change

  Environmental - many diseases are associated with tropical climates
• How do social factors affect the cycle of infection?

  • Stigma and discrimination - fear of the disease or the belief it is self inflicted and cultural and social barriers faced by marginalised groups
  • Burden to caregivers - loss of labour means loss of income, children may have to give up education to provide financial support
  • Housing conditions - overcrowded and poor living conditions contribute to spread of disease
  • Inadequate food intake - increased risk of infections as immune system is weak
• How do economic factors affect the cycle of infection?

  • Impose heavy health and economic burden - Malaria is the leading cause of death in children under 5 in Africa
  • Costs billions of dollars to illness and death from HIV
• How do political factors affect the cycle of infection?

  Low political voice - conflict and displaced populations
• How do environmental factors affect the cycle of infection?

  • Sub-tropical regions and high temps and heavy rains increase the risk of vector borne diseases.
  • Heavy rain can eliminate vectors but also provide them with breeding sites (stagnant water)
• What is malaria?

  A communicable, zoonotic disease caused by a parasite and is transmitted by mosquitoes to humans.
• What are the 4 human causes of malaria spread?

  • Urbanisation - increasing population causes pools of stagnant water to be created during construction which provide breeding grounds
  • Migration - seasonal migration of agricultural workers from rural areas to urban areas + many agricultural workers sleep in the paddy fields when mosquitoes are most active.
  • Irrigation - Cultivation of rice fields and the building of dams and canals leads to increased stagnant water
  • Drug misuse - Misuse and long term use of anti malarial drugs have caused the parasite to build up resistance.
• What are 3 physical causes of the malaria spread?

  • Warm, humid climate - Temperatures between 18-40 degrees provide perfect habitat for mosquitoes to thrive and take more blood meals + increases the number of eggs laid
  • Rainfall - rainy season results in more stagnant water due to flooding. These enable female mosquitoes to lay their eggs
  • Altitude - Lower temperatures result in less stagnant water due to it running downhill and sparsely populated land means that the habitat is less suitable for mosquitoes to breed and prevents transmission.
• What are the socio-economic impacts of malaria?

  • Kills 70,000 people per year
  • 5 million cases a year
  • 40% of national health expenditure is to treat malaria + 10% of hospital admissions are from malaria.
  • Food security - lowlands have more fertile soil that provides agricultural potential whereas the highlands have been over farmed leading to land degradation
• What are some strategies implimented to help tackle malaria in Ethiopia?

  • Presidents Malaria Initiative (PMI) and Global Health Initiative
  • Direct strategies= spraying houses with insecticide and educating the local communities on how to keep safe.
  • Indirect strategies= public campaigns and insecticide treated bed nets.
• Was the strategies successful?

  Malaria cases halved between 2000 and 2010.

  No malaria epidemic since 2003