A mosquito is a deadly beast

MALARIA remains one of the worst public health problems in Papua New Guinea.
It is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that infects a type of mosquito which feeds on humans. Once an infected mosquito bites a human, the parasites multiply in the host’s liver before infecting and destroying their red blood cells.
And that mosquito is a deadly beast that might be the size of a speck but poses a threat to more than half the world’s population. This predator, a not so friendly neighbour, is the mosquito that causes so much menace around the world.
A mosquito bite is annoying for everyone. But for millions of people around the world it can also transmit deadly and debilitating illnesses such as malaria, Zika, lymphatic filariasis, West Nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever and dengue.
It is transmitted to humans through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito.
The parasite cycle takes up to two weeks to develop before the patient can show symptoms of malaria.
It’s a preventable and curable disease but unfortunately, it threatens the lives of millions of people around the world.
And so these little pests must not be easily forgotten, they have a day too – World Mosquito Day.
Observed annually on Aug 20, World Mosquito Day is a commemoration of British doctor Sir Ronald Ross’s discovery in 1897 that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans.
Ross is responsible for the annual observance, having declared shortly after his discovery that the day should be known as World Mosquito Day in the future.
Malaria is found in more than 100 countries, mainly in tropical areas of the world including PNG.
PNG reports one million malaria cases annually, with 800 people dying from the disease every year.
Malaria cases dropped over a 10-year period before this, however, in recent years there has been a dramatic resurgence of the disease.
Research by PNG’s Institute of Medical Research shows a nine-fold increase in the number of cases of malaria in PNG between 2014 and 2017.
The rising number of cases in PNG contributed to a spike in the number of recorded malaria cases worldwide which increased by two million from 2016 to 2017.
Last year’s World Malaria Report, detailed 219 million cases of malaria in 2017, up from 217 million cases the year before.
Population Services International (PSI) reports a little over 60 per cent of the population live in malaria risk areas with the disease particularly damaging to pregnant women and their unborn children.
It can result in maternal anaemia and low birth weight, which is the single greatest risk factor that can result in death during the first months of life.
The government is very conscious of the fact and wants to get PNG free of malaria PNG and will come with a cost in terms of having a sustainable control and surveillance system.
Malaria affects over 90% of PNG’s total population.
The Government of Papua New Guinea will not achieve this on its own and hence needs its partners to make the fight against malaria a development priority is timely.