Malaria is a major public health problem for children in much of the world despite modern medicine and public health advances. Medical advancements and social improvements seemingly did not spare malaria from being a continuing cause of morbidity and mortality among the world’s children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The effects of malaria on child health and how to best prevent malaria infections are key issues in combating this serious global health scourge.
What is Malaria?
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Symptoms of malaria include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause yellow skin, seizures, coma, or even death. Four parasite species can infect humans: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium malariae. Plasmodium falciparum is the deadliest and most common malaria parasite in Africa south of the Sahara.
How Malaria Affects Children
The disease is particularly hard on children under five – because of their underdeveloped immune systems and relative lack of body weight – and the impact of malaria infection on a child can be devastating:
- High mortality rates: In regions where it is endemic, malaria is the leading cause of death in children under five years old. In severe cases, the disease can progress to cerebral malaria with coma, permanent neurological damage, and death without treatment.
- Chronic Health Problems: Even if children survive malaria, recurrent infections can still lead to chronic health problems, such as anemia, which can impact physical and cognitive development. Anemia in children can lead to fatigue, slowed physical growth, and developmental delays.
- Educational Impact: Children can fall behind in their education due to sickness from malaria. Oftentimes, it’s easy for little ones to get sick with this disease multiple times throughout the year, forcing them to miss precious days of school. That means they’re not learning the valuable day-to-day skills they need to become a well-rounded adult in a society that will be capable of providing for their family. It also means that, in the long run, this educational pitfall could lead to not much, at all.
- Economic cost: The financial cost of malaria on families is high. From paying to treat a child, having to take time off work to care for a sick child, or the long-term impact of chronic health problems that can result in higher medical costs, the economic toll can be tremendous on families leading them further into poverty.
Prevention Strategies
Preventing malaria is key to ending the burden of malaria on children’s health. A couple of Child health strategies play a crucial role in reducing child’s morbidity resulting from malaria: These include :
- Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs): Sleeping under ITNs is highly effective in the prevention of malaria; ITNs are impregnated with an insecticide that keeps mosquitoes away from nets and kills those that land on them, thereby preventing mosquito bites during the night.
- Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS): The IRS is the most reliable vector control method. It relies on spraying the inner walls of houses with insecticides and killing mosquitoes that come in contact with the treated surfaces. This helps to reduce the mosquito population in and around the home.
- Antimalarial Medications: At high-coverage levels, preventive antimalarial medications such as intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), and seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) for children in high-transmission settings, can greatly decrease malaria incidence.
- Prompt diagnosis and treatment: The sooner children are diagnosed and treated for malaria, the better their chances are. They will be less likely to develop severe disease and, ultimately, less likely to die. This means having access to RDTs and effective antimalarial drugs.
- Environmental Management: Mosquitoes require water to reproduce, so reducing sites where they can breed and the potential for biting and spreading malaria means eliminating these breeding sites through good sanitation and reducing waste. Drying up the water where the mosquitoes lay their eggs is vital to this approach.
- Community Education: Education of communities on malaria prevention and the need to be screened for malaria and get treatment as soon as they get sick. Learning and knowing malaria and the way forward helps prevent malaria. Community health education is the key to stopping this disease.
Global Efforts and Progress
Thanks to intense global collaboration and efforts, we have achieved significant progress in the fight against malaria. The World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Fund, and many NGOs are actively working to reduce the transmission of malaria, as well as improve access to quality treatment.
Recent developments include new vaccines for malaria. The RTS, S/AS01 vaccine, or Mosquirix, showed promise in preventing malaria among young children in clinical trials. It’s not a panacea, but another rung on the malaria-prevention ladder.
Challenges and Future Directions
However, the campaign against malaria is far from over. Drug resistance is a growing problem, as malaria parasites undergo genetic changes that make them resistant to antimalarial medications. Similarly, mosquitoes are acquiring resistance to insecticides.
Overcoming these obstacles depends upon continued research and innovation. This requires ongoing investment in new tools, such as improved vaccines and insecticides, and the development of new strategies for treatment.
Meanwhile, health systems should be improved so that all children can have access to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Overcoming the social determinants of health, particularly poverty, and access to clean water and sanitation, is also key to reducing malaria’s social impact at the critical moments when it strikes vulnerable populations.
Malaria has varying effects but is almost always detrimental to child health; these detrimental effects not only affect the immediate health of infected children but may also lead to lifelong stunting and learning deficits. The prevention of malaria is of paramount importance as children can avoid experiencing malaria, and all of its consequences.
Prevention – achieved by using insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, antimalarial drugs, and community outreach – is vital to continued progress against malaria. Thanks to these and other innovative strategies, the prospect of controlling and even eliminating the disease is within our grasp.
By maintaining strong investment in prevention, treatment, and research, along with addressing the social and economic issues that enable malaria to thrive, we can safeguard children’s health and secure their future. Together, we have the potential to make malaria a thing of the past. Malaria is preventable and it is possible to achieve a world free of the effects of this ancient disease for children.
