http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2007/04/magnum_on_malaria.html
Magnum on Malaria
April 15, 2007
The story of malaria begins with the scale of the problem. 40 percent of
the world’s population, some 3.2 billion people, are at risk of
contracting malaria. There are 350 to 500 million diagnosed cases each
year. The problem is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa where more than 1
million people die every year from the disease. Children and pregnant
women are most vulnerable: malaria is the leading cause of death among
children in Africa, with a child dying every 30 seconds from the
disease; women are four times as likely to contract malaria as other
adults, resulting in miscarriages and dangerously low birth weights.
As these numbers suggest, malaria is a huge burden on the public health
system in Africa. It accounts for as much as 50 percent of clinic
caseloads in endemic areas. Go to any rural health center in sub-Saharan
Africa and the disease is inescapable. Roomfuls of children sleep in
malaria comas. People in remote villages have to rush their sick miles
for proper care.
Malaria has a devastating effect on the African economy, costing the
continent some $12 billion a year in lost productivity and hundreds of
millions more in health care costs. It is a major stumbling block to
development: it is estimated that malaria endemic countries grow 1.3
percent slower than non-malaria endemic countries due to the disease.
/end excerpt
--
Atheist n A person to be pitied in that he is
unable to believe things for which there is
no evidence, and who has thus deprived himself of
a convenient means of feeling superior to others.
—Chaz Bufe, The American Heretic’s Dictionary
.
|
