Malaria itaua zaidi ya watu 700,000 mwaka huu (WHO). Mapambano dhidi ya ugonjwa huu yanaendelea kila kona ya Afrika na nchi nyingine za tropiki ili kupunguza vifo hivi (hasa vya watoto wachanga). Chini ni katuni zilizochorwa na msanii ‘Kako’ kutoka Brazil na zinazoeleza ‘hadithi’ ya maambukizi ya ugonjwa huu.
Left to right
Images courtesy of Malaria Consortium
All images (c) KAKO, Sao Paulo Brazil. For more about this artist, visit his page at Kakofonia.
We now have medicated bednets no? I hear it’s supposed to dramatically reduce the cost of preventive measures against malaria.
Bednets are available and in most places are rolled out for free. This strategy has really helped in curbing the parasite transmission. However, most of the infections still occur in early evening before people go to bed where mosquitoes bite their subjects. The grand challenge is therefore to prevent resulting disease by having a vaccine, or drugs which won’t develop resistance. This is the grand challenge. And people like Bill Gates have really put a lot of money into such research and hope it can be translated to a product within a few years. But it is tough.
Machozi, jasho na damu…hehe…Prof Jay…yah,
Ila sometimes inasikitisha. Watu wanafanya research for years, pump in billions …once dawa ikipatikana,….sub-saharana wanashindwa kumudu gharama ya hizo dawa….inanikumbusha ishu ya anti-viral drugs….