Apicomplexa
The new boom in malaria
World Malaria Day, 25 April - The biggest threat is the rise of drug-resistant parasites due to fake and sub-standard medicines. As with other drugs before, this resistance is emerging all along the Mekong, from Cambodia to Myanmar, where the wonder-drug artemisinin is already failing: this threatens malaria victims everywhere.
The new boom in malaria
IPN Opinion article
The outlook for malaria remains poor because of fake drugs and bad governance
What's wrong in the Mekong?
IPN Opinion article
Resistance to the latest anti-malarial drugs is building up in the Mekong Delta and will threaten much of Asia and Africa: the WHO has just put out a warning that catches up with years of research saying the same thing. Mutation plays a part but so do counterfeits, accounting for a quarter of all medicines in developing countries and a third in Africa.
Malaria: Great Idea, Bad Scheme
IPN Opinion article
The great idea is to supply cheap anti-malarials through the private sector in Africa: the trouble is that the scheme is not proven and the Global Fund money could be better deployed in existing and effective anti-malaria campaigns.
Eradicate malaria with growth, not nets
IPN Opinion article
Aid donors' single-minded determination to give everyone mosquito nets is just not going to eradicate malaria. Without economic development, Africa will always depend on donors and their nets to fight malaria.
Malaria: Saving lives and protecting the environment
IPN Opinion article
In April, Africa Malaria Day was celebrated with pomp and pageantry. Across African cities, towns and villages thousands of young ones and adults died of malaria. The 2000 Abuja Declaration seeks to reduce malaria cases by 50 per cent, yet malaria still claims millions of lives. Malaria is the biggest health problem in Africa. In several fora, there is a general consensus that malaria is indeed a problem that needs to be tackled headlong. But several contradictions and backsliding on the part of most African governments and pressures from western donor agencies continue to constitute the stumbling block.
Mosquito bites the economy
IPN Opinion article
Never mind that the country hasn't seen the monsoon in its full fury this year. That's not going to take the sting out of the anopheles mosquito, as its dreaded bite injects the malaria parasite into bloodstreams across the country. The first reports of malarial deaths have already started trickling in.
The deaths in themselves are tragic since it is now 50 years since India declared war on malaria. Now, a study by a Delhi-based think-tank, Liberty Institute, suggests that malaria is draining the economy by as much as Rs 1,692 crore a year.
