20 August 2017: World Mosquito Day

It is 115 years since British medical researcher Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932) discovered that mosquitoes transmit the malaria parasite. In honour of his landmark discovery in 1902, World Mosquito Day is celebrated annually on 20 August.

So, over a century later, where does the world stand in the fight against malaria? According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there were 216 million cases of malaria and an estimated 655,000 deaths in 2016. Most of these infections are in sub-saharan Africa, and children under 5 years old make up the majority of malaria cases.

However, global mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% since 2000, and 33% in Africa. The advent of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has helped channel resources to prevention and treatment in some of the hardest hit places.

Treating malaria requires a proper diagnosis, which now can be administered on-the-spot with a rapid diagnostic test.

But prevention is best. There are two basic forms: the first is called indoor residual spraying (spraying a non-toxic insecticide in people’s homes, huts or bedrooms.) The other effective prevention method is sleeping under an insecticide treated bednet called a Long Lasting Insecticide treated Net (LLIN). This is a highly effective method of malaria control, costing about $10. When people in communities use bed nets, malaria rates can be reduced by as much as 90%.

World Mosquito Day provides an important opportunity to remind governments, interest groups, businesses and local communities that we all have a part to play in reducing the public health and economic burden of malaria.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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