Malaria in Africa

Thank you for visiting our page on malaria in Africa, the continent where this deadly vector-borne disease is the most prominent. If you want to know which countries in Africa malaria is found, such as malaria in Nigeria or malaria in Kenya then this page will be of use to you, we also provide a thorough guide to the effect the disease has on the continent and the people that live there as well as information for travelers that are planning on visiting Africa.

Just as we highlighted on our main page, the malaria disease affects millions of people across the third and developing world and the region that is effected the most is Africa. Malaria in Africa kills a child every 30 seconds, that is 120 an hour and 2880 every day, these figures are staggering! In the African continent alone Malaria is responsible for one fifth of childhood deaths. The disease puts an enormous strain on economical development and the health of the continent, the cost of malaria in Africa is a loss of 1.3% of the yearly economic growth in the countries where the disease is the most rife. The poorest are the most vulnerable as they have limited access to health care and little means to protect themselves from malaria transmission. The disease spreads poverty and inhibits human development making children miss school due to sickness and prevents adults from working.

Those most at risk from malaria in Africa are children and pregnant women, the disease can cause spontaneous abortion, premature delivery of stillbirth as well as extreme maternal anemia and babies being born prematurely and underweight.

Malaria in Africa is responsible for killing 10 000 pregnant women and 200 000 children each and every year.

There is no vaccine against the malaria disease and even if there was this would be at an astronomical cost to regularly vaccinate a region of the world that houses half of the entire population of the human race. However, malaria is preventable and also curable, so in Africa malaria control is key to the survival of millions.

For example, if everybody had a malaria net to sleep in this would prevent hundreds of thousands of infections occurring. People are at their most vulnerable when they are asleep as there is nothing to stop an infected mosquito landing on them for a feed and beginning the malaria life cycle. There are a great many aid campaigns in force all over the world trying to fund the purchase of nets to aid malaria in Africa, however effective malaria control targets in 2010 are estimated at around 6 billion US dollars with less than a third of that actually being raised and applied to the problem. This is not to say that aid efforts are not trying, on the contrary it is just such a huge mountain to climb in order to successfully tackle the problem.

The key for helping malaria in Africa is providing people with the means to protect themselves against the disease through the use of bed nets, this is the most effective form of malaria control. Failing that it is critical that the disease can be treated if and when it does occur. Teaching people about the symptoms of malaria is the first port of call, if people suspect that they may have contracted the disease then they can seek help faster as it is possible for malaria to kill within a matter of days. Access to malaria treatment is vital for people in Africa and fortunately there are drugs available to those that need them, however for the world's poorest people it is not a case of being able to just dial 911 or take a quick drive to the emergency room. A hospital with drugs may be a long way away and with no transport it can be difficult to reach it when the disease is making you weaker by the hour.

A warning for travelers about malaria in Africa

For people that travel to Africa from the western world there is no excuse to make the trip unprepared. It is simple to buy a malaria net, mosquito spray and anti-malaria drugs in way of malaria prophylaxis to ensure as best you can that you stay free of the disease for the duration of your stay. There is no guarantee that you will not catch the disease, however contrary to popular belief, anti-malarial drugs can often be 100% effective. It is imperative to seek medical advice before traveling to a country in Africa where Malaria is found, not all malaria drugs are available over the counter so your doctor may have to prescribe them to you. Give yourself plenty of time before you leave to see a doctor as many anti-malarial drugs will need to be taken weeks prior to departure, this is to test for side-effects and to ensure you travel with he right drugs for you and your body. For more information on malaria prevention methods, malaria prophylaxis and malaria prevention please see our dedicated pages.

There are 54 countries in the African continent with the list below being the countries where malaria in Africa is found. The disease mainly effect sub-saharan Africa but it is even found in the economic heart of Northern Africa with malaria in Nigeria for example.

Whereby malaria is not currently found in the USA it is thought that by 2050 there will be regions of North America and Europe where the disease will be found due to predicted climate change. This means that it will not just be malaria in Africa where there is cause for concern, however clearly it is not going to have the same effect to a developed country. At present several thousand cases of malaria are brought back from malarious regions into the developed work, however fatalities are almost non-existent due to the disease being recognised and treated immediately.