The theme for World Malaria Day this year is “End Malaria for Good”.
Malaria is caused due to the Plasmodium parasites which are carried by the Female – Anopheles mosquito. Out of five, two species of the parasite, P. falciparum and P. vivax, pose the greatest threat to human beings. Once the mosquito bites the person, the parasite enters the liver infecting the red blood cells.
These begin to grow and reproduce in red blood cells until they swell and burst, releasing new parasites that infect more red blood cells. Once the parasites have infected the blood, the symptoms of malaria begin to appear.
According to World Health Organization in 2015, malaria prevailed in 91 countries. There were 212 million cases recorded and 429000 deaths. The statistics reveal that one child dies of malaria every two minutes. Between 2010 and 2015, the incidence of malaria fell by 21 percent globally; malaria mortality rates fell by 29% and by 35% among children under the age of 5. In 2015, there were 212 million new cases of malaria and 429,000 deaths.