The World Health Organisation confirmed on Thursday that Malaria killed nearly one million people worldwide, with children under five and African countries bearing the brunt.
"There were an estimated 247 million malaria cases among 3.3 billion people at risk in 2006, causing nearly a million deaths, mostly of children under 5 years," the WHO said in its Annual Malaria Report.
Countries still lack sufficient resources to tackle the disease and even though public health services are procuring more anti-malaria medicines, access to treatment is still inadequate in all countries surveyed, the WHO said.
Most African countries are way off meeting the 80 percent coverage target for the four main treatments -- mosquito nets, drugs, indoor insecticde spray and treatment during pregnancy -- set by the WHO in 2005, the report said.
About Mosquito Diseases
Mosquito-borne diseases, like malaria, filaria, dengue, etc are common in places conducive of mosquito breeding. Swamps, ponds and stagnated drainage provide optimal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Mosquito-borne diseases, like malaria, filaria, dengue, etc are common in places conducive of mosquito breeding. Swamps, ponds and stagnated drainage provide optimal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
More than half of the African cases in 2006 occurred in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya, the WHO said.
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War Against Malaria in the Tropics is Failing Due to 'Dodgy Dossier'
A 'dodgy' intelligence dossier is being blamed for failure of war against malaria, because it had argued that methods to tackle the disease in temperate countries would also work in the tropics.
A 'dodgy' intelligence dossier is being blamed for failure of war against malaria, because it had argued that methods to tackle the disease in temperate countries would also work in the tropics.
RAS/SK
