Communicable Diseases: Malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Communicable Diseases: Malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo
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Communicable Diseases: Malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Introduction
Malaria is a commonly tropical disease that is caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted by the female anopheles mosquito. Annually, malaria accounts for approximately 630, 000 deaths globally, 90% of which occurs in sub-Saharan Africa.
Half of the world population lives in malaria high-risk regions. Of the estimated 207 million malaria infections that occur each year, 103 million, representing 47%, take place in six sub-Sahara African countries; Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Uganda. Nigeria and DRC alone account for about 40% of global infection cases. At the same time, children under the age of 5 years are the most affected, who accounted for 86% deaths globally in 2010 (CDC, 2012). The high death rates among children are attributed to their low resistance, since immunity against disease takes time to develop in human beings. Also vulnerable are pregnant women whose immunity weakens during pregnancy, and travelers/immigrants from regions with low transmission rates, and therefore low resistance.
The high rates of infection in sub-Saharan Africa are attributed to a combination of climatic and socio-economic conditions that favor transmissions. They include local weather conditions favorable to the year round breeding of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes that transmit malaria, poverty and poor transport and communication infrastructures that hinder affordable and easy access to healthcare services (CDC, 2012). However, these statistics may be lower than the actual infection and malaria-related mortality rates due to lack of efficient data collection mechanisms in developing countries. Richard Cibulskis, WHO's global malaria prevention program coordinator, captured this issue when he stated in an interview that “One of the issues is that the data systems are weakest in the places where malaria is the most common, and for some countries in Africa, we don't have any good data at all” (qtd in James, 2011, p. 2).
Malaria Prevalence in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second largest country in Africa by geographical area, and with a population of over 68.3 million people, the third most populated. It is the poorest country in the world, ranked at number 187 at the very bottom. According to the 2011 Human Development Index, an estimated 80% of the population survives on less than a dollar a day.
DRC has the highest levels of malaria infection in the world. In 2009, there were 21, 168 in-patient malaria deaths in the DRC, the highest of the 111, 885 in-patient malaria deaths in Africa (CDC, 2012). Malaria is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in the DRC, according to the country's Ministry of Health. 97 percent of the population lives in regions that are prone to malaria infection-at altitudes of between 300-1, 000 meters, with conditions that favor mosquito breeding for between 8-12 months in a year. Ministry of Health statistics indicate that malaria is responsible for over 40 percent of all out-patient visits, up to 50 percent of all hospital visits, and 40 percent of deaths in children aged five years and below (CDC, 2013).
Transmission of Malaria
Malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which is spread by infected Anopheles mosquitoes, commonly referred to as “malaria vectors.” The mosquitoes transmit the parasites when they bite a person through the skin, and are mostly active at dawn and dusk. When an Anopheles mosquito bites a person, it transfers Plasmodium parasites into the bloodstream, and then transported into the live, where they undergo asexual reproduction. The infected liver cells then burst, releasing more plasmodia into the blood, where they invade and infect more blood cells (John Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, 2014). The periodic fever that malaria victims experience (in spans of 24 to 48 hours) is caused by the cyclic reproduction of parasites in the liver and their subsequent release into the blood stream.
Environmental Factors
The DRC covers the equatorial region, which experiences long rainfalls and warm temperatures of between 25°C and 30°C (Snow & Omumbo, 2006). These climatic conditions favor high levels of mosquito breeding, which occurs shortly after the rain periods, and longer lifespans (WHO Media Center,...