Mosquitoes, those pesky insects that feed on human blood, are more than just a nuisance; they also carry the parasite that causes malaria – passing it on through their night-time bites. Symptoms usually appear 9-14 days after infection and include fever, shivering, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms. If not treated malaria can be deadly; early, accurate diagnosis and treatment is key. You can’t get malaria from casual contact with someone who’s infected. It’s not contagious and can’t be transmitted sexually.

Malaria is preventable and treatable, but it can be deadly. Worldwide, in 2012 malaria caused around 207 million illnesses and 627,000 deaths and it is a disease that has a particularly devastating effect in Africa, where 90% of malaria deaths occurred. Almost half the world’s population is at risk of malaria. It is particularly deadly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where a mosquito-friendly climate and frequently poor prevention and treatment coverage has made it one of the biggest killers of young children. But malaria deaths can be prevented using a combination of measures proven to save lives including mosquito nets, malaria tests and medicines.

Malaria is also linked to poverty – people in living in poverty are less able to afford access to malaria prevention tools or the effective treatment they need when they have malaria. This means they are more susceptible to catching the disease and less able to afford to treat it. It is estimated that in some areas, such as the Northern region in Ghana, malaria treatment costs up to a quarter of household income for poorer households. This means treating malaria takes money that could otherwise have been spent on other essentials, such as food, and contributes to keeping people in poverty.

At a national level this is also the case, with malaria treatment costs and lost productivity costing Africa’s economies an estimated £8 billion each year. The suffering and deaths caused by malaria affect the world’s progress towards meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals – including the goals to halve extreme poverty, reduced the number of women and children that die each year and tackle malaria and other killer diseases. Despite these barriers, there is hope. Governments are pledging more money towards controlling malaria and people are becoming better educated on why changing habits can help them avoid this deadly disease. More malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment tools including mosquito nets, insecticide sprays, tests and medicines are being distributed and used.

At Malaria No More UK, we fund programmes and partners in Africa who use a combination of approaches to fight malaria. This means they use every tool at their disposal to prevent, diagnose, and treat malaria as well as promoting widespread malaria education. We also support and promote innovation and research into finding new and better ways to fight malaria, including using new technology, developing new insecticides, medicines and vaccines. This is one disease we really can beat. Let’s make malaria no more in our lifetime.