Why Malaria Remains A Killer, By Expert

The Deputy Director, Re
search and Head of Malaria Research Programme, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Dr Sam Awolola says malaria is endemic in Nigeria
According to him, “It is responsible for absenteeism at workplaces and, as such, affects productivity because of loss of man-hour,” he said.
Explaining the mode of transmission, he said: “Malaria is caused by a parasite called plasmodium carried by an anopheles mosquito.
“There are several species of plasmodium depending on where people are. There are some that even attack animals, the one that attacks human is called plasmodium falciparum, this is found in Nigeria, other African countries and Asia”.
Besides, 98 per cent of malaria is caused by mosquitoes having plasmodium falciparum.
Malariaa has become widespread in Nigeria because most environments are dirty and therefore become breeding ground for anopheles mosquitoes.
Awolola continued, “An anopheles mosquito gets the parasites from an infected person through bites, then the parasites go into the mosquito to develop into what is called the infected stage and after two or three days the mosquito goes back to bite again and transmit the parasites into human body.
The researcher said the most efficient mosquito, which transmits malaria parasites, is common in the country because of its geographical location.
Awolola said artemisinim-based combination therapy (ACT) is the most effective drug for malaria treatment.
Talking about cure, he said, chloroquine has failed. This, he said, is because there are parasites that have become resistant to it, particularly owing to its mismanagement.
He said chloroquine is still a very effective drug, however, but most people take substandard dosage while some do not take the required regimen and so the parasites have developed resistance to the drug. “This is why we changed from chloroquine and other monotherapies to ACT. ACT is a combination of two different drugs of two varying modes of action therefore it is very effective against the parasites. In Cambodia and other parts of Asia they have also resulted to ACT. That cannot mean there is no resistance to ACT. What we try to do at NMIR is to be vigilant. This effort is called pharmaco vigilance. We monitor the use of chloroquine in the field, and the parasites with reaction to chloroquine, we’ve researched into how the drug has been effective over the parasites over the years,” he said.
For the prevention of the disease, he said there are three things which people must do.
The first, they should use long lasting insecticide nets. There is also indoor residual spray where people put chemical on the wall of the houses thereby killing the mosquitoes that come in. Another method is to use personal preventive measures where people can use aerosol in the houses.
Expectant mothers, he said, can prevent malaria. “This is called preventive measure in pregnancy, in intermittent preventive treatment . For children, there is intermittent preventive measure. This is because many children die from malaria. Drugs are also meant for that.
“The best prevention however which is better than cure, is the one that prevents you from having malaria and the best method is to sleep under LLINs or your house gets treated with IRS,” he said.
Besides, they are very effective and must be used according to instructions. “However ,there are challenges in this area because mosquitoes are also adapting to the environment as the getting resistant to the insecticides. Atimes, you see some mosquitoes on the net and don’t die after being sprayed with insecticide that is called insecticide resistance.