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25.6.14

A baby step in malaria prevention

So, after years of neglect, several countries, and multiple agencies will fund chemo-prevention for the young in (some) of the African countries most affected and impacted by a parasitic disease, in this case malaria, as reported here.

To date, no vaccine exists for any parasitic disease. 

Until now the countries with many of the highest risk populations have not addressed the issue(s) internally, that is, use their own resources for the eradication of environmental hazards that exacerbate mosquito infestation.   Simply clean water.

A malaria-infected baby lays in a bed in a malaria ward in the main hospital in Juba, Sudan. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images via the Guardian ©
Options do exist, but ethics, morality, finance and ignorance conjoin to often make simple options fail.

The Guardian published this piece about an option. 

Although I was acutely aware of how fortunate I was not to have contracted malaria, while most of my colleagues did, now that I have contracted Lyme Disease, I probably appreciate all the more how "ignorance" plays a role in good medical care.  Although I recognized, later than sooner ,that I had been affected, the local physician refused to give me prophylactic treatment and I went untreated longer than is sensible.

Now I am like those inflicted with malaria:  fevers, chills, fatigue and muscle pain.  

Now it is too late, just like it often is too late for all those young people in the world who get that one infected mosquito bite.

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