Culture and Disease Essay

Malaria is one of the sicknesss that atomic number 18 responsible for the highest death rate and morbidity rates in Africa in particular among children (World Bank, 2009). In fact, it is one of the greatest globe wellness concerns in Africa and most of the health programs be aimed at prevention and discourse of the affection (World Bank, 2009). This disease is common among Africans comp ard to divisioner(a) ethnic groups collect to economic, cultural, economic and tender factors. In a bid to betrothal this scourge, Africans nominate been employ several(prenominal) methods to disc over the fiesta of malaria and the methods take aim included both(prenominal) the flairrn and traditional approaches.Malaria is an infectious disease which is usually caused by a sponge that is known as plasmodium. These spongers atomic number 18 protozoic in nature and they argon of several species which include malaria parasite falciparum, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium vivax (Sherman, 1998). Among these species, the most serious and deathly species to tender beings is P. falciparum. The plasmodium is transmitted to creation by the effeminate anopheles mosquitoes and its lifecycle involves dickens hosts which be the humanity host and a mosquito vector (Sherman, 1998).In the lifecycle of the plasmodium it forms sporozoites which argon found in the gut of the female mosquito (Russel & vitamin A Wolfe, 2008). The female mosquito transmits the sporozoites to human beings with a keenness. These sporozoites move into the human liver whither they enter the liver cells and mature into a schizont which contains umpteen merozoites (Russel & antiophthalmic factor Wolfe, 2008). These merozoites ar released into cable stream where they invade the red cells thereby forming schizonts with numerous merozoites. These are released from the red blood cells into bloodstream where they invade more than red cells.As the red cells are burs ting to release the merozoites, harmful compounds are released which causes the fever and the clinical symptoms that are helperd with malaria (Russel &type A Wolfe, 2008). In the bloodstream, some of the merozoites recite into the male and female gametes which are interpreted up by the mosquito from the infected person and these two fertilize each former(a) in the gut of the mosquito and they develop into sporozoites (Russel & Wolfe, 2008). These are transmitted to another human being through a bite by the mosquito.Though the principal fashion of malaria contagion is by mosquito bites, there are other methods that can transmit the malarial parasite. One of these is blood transfusion pastime existence of dormant plasmodium parasites in the donors blood. This can draw in the transfused person to suffer from a feverous affection and for these reasons in areas where malaria is endemic a full course of chloroquine is administered to potentiality recipients of blood (Kakkilay a, 2006). some other mode of transmission is transmission from drive to child among pregnant women.These parasites crack cocaine to the child through the placenta especially if the mother has no immunity (Kakkilaya, 2006). The last mode of transmission is through needle sting injury which can be all accidental as happens among healthcare providers or intentional as happens among dose addicts who dispense needles (Kakkilaya, 2006). There are several factors that gull Africans undefended to malaria and one of these are the environmental factors which contribute to lot of the disease. To begin with, malaria is a climate related disease where it is for the most part found in the tropic and subtropical regions.The climate in Africa particularly the annual mean temperature is mostly within the valuation account limit of the plasmodium species and this repairs the parasite to brandish thus rendering the populations living in this area penetrable (Leary, 2008). some other environmental factor is weather disturbances in Africa which influences the conduct sites of the vectors thereby increasing the transmission potential of malaria (Leary, 2008). These weather disturbances occur in the form of prolonged droughts and heavy rains. There are several social and cultural factors that make Africans unprotected to malaria disease.One of these is increased human population in Africa and this has led to deluge reclamation and deforestation in a bid to find more set down for settlement. The effect of these activities has been the creation of puddles which provides good rearing sites for the mosquitoes which in turn transmit malaria (Leary, 2008). When the plant is removed, what happens is that the temperatures increase and this aids in malaria transmission. Another factor is self medication where many people in Africa buy drugs over the counter and treat themselves at root (Leary, 2008).This has led to development of drug disgustful strains of plasmodiu m necessitating continuous replacement of anti-malarial drugs. This has do the populations in Africa susceptible to the disease since kind of of traffic with the difficulty the populations create more problems by creating drug resistant strains of plasmodium. In addition, many people treat themselves with anti-malarial drugs that have already been ruled as in impelling thereby putting themselves at danger of developing serious and complicated malaria (Leary, 2008).Another factor is lack of knowledge on the disease among both the communities and the public health officials. A study done in 2004 showed that in East Africa people are required by the Public health Act to clear the bushes around their houses as a representation of preventing the cattle farm of icteric fever yet studies have shown that clear of bushes creates favorable deportment conditions for malaria (Leary, 2008). This increases the vulnerability of Africans to malaria disease since effective measures are n ot interpreted to prevent spread of malaria.Economic factors alike increase the vulnerability of Africans to malaria. Poverty levels in Africa are high which means that there are inadequate economic resources to come in in healthcare thereby do people vulnerable to malaria epidemics. close of the populations here live below a sawbuck a day and likewise cases of diet shortages are very common which makes obtaining intellectual nourishment rather than malaria prevention a precedency (Leary, 2008). These economic hardships also make it knotty for populations to seek good healthcare services.Most just go to the private clinics or to the local dispensaries most of which have no equipment for diagnosis thus resulting in irrelevant prescriptions (Leary, 2008). In addition, some of the medical faculty found in these healthcare facilities are not qualified. The reason as to why most of the people prefer the local dispensaries is cost constraints where they cannot afford motorize d entrance and thus prefer to use chinchy means of transport such as bicycles (Leary, 2008). Myths and cultural beliefs also make Africans vulnerable to malaria.This is particularly with regard to the cause and prevention of malaria. some people confide that malaria is caused by witchcraft or supernatural forces and a good example is Uganda where the populations here associate convulsions which are a form of malarial complication with supernatural forces (Leary, 2008). This really makes the populations vulnerable to malaria since they cannot take measures to prevent malaria. In addition, due to such beliefs, people who have malaria are not treated with conventional medicinal drug which is more effective but are treated using traditional treat which is not that effective.This makes the populations susceptible to malaria epidemics since the problem is not being addressed thereby ensuring the spread of the disease and increasing mortality rates. different people associate malar ia with certain foods and a good example is populations in Tanzania who believe that malaria is due to consumption of maize meal (Leary, 2008). This belief results from the fact that maize meals in Tanzania are commonly consumed in clock of food shortages which occur following similarly much or too light rainfall (Leary, 2008). These climatic conditions are also associated with increased cases of malaria.However, the populations associate malaria with the food they commonly eat at that time and so they do not eat maize meals as a way of fighting malaria (Leary, 2008). This only serves to make them more vulnerable to malaria. There are several methods that are used to control the spread of malaria. Some of these methods are aimed at lowering pictorial matter to infectious mosquito bites and these include indoor dust using insecticides, use of bed nets that are insecticide treated, and use of fight offlants (Falola & Heaton, 2007).Insecticides are used to reduce the numb er of swelled mosquitoes while materials such as repellants repel mosquitoes away from an individual thereby curbing the spread of the disease. Another method involves interference of the disease using drugs. Though drug resistance has been a great problem in fighting malaria, drugs have turn out to be effective in suppressing the parasite within the host thus preventing however spread of the disease (Falola & Heaton, 2007). opposite treatment methods involve interfering with the breeding sites of mosquitoes and these include draining of stagnant urine and spraying of breeding sites with insecticides.Apart from these methods of preventing the spread of malaria, the African population has its alternative methods of dealing with malaria. One of these involves use of traditional medicine. traditionalistic healers in Africa diagnose and treat malaria using indigenous roots, herbs, and leaves which are usually alert and taken orally (Maslove et al. , 2009). This acts as a barr ier to the fight against malaria since their diagnosis is base merely on symptoms and not symptomatic evidence which may lead to indecorous treatment thus further spread of malaria due to delayed treatment (Maslove et al., 2009). Traditionally, Africans have relied on good sanitation practices such as proper disposal of garbage and draining of swamps as a way of preventing malaria and up to date their method remain effective and aids the fight against malaria (Falola & Heaton, 2007). However, this approach ignores mosquitoes as the vectors involved in the spread of malaria thereby hampering the fight against malaria (Falola & Heaton, 2007). Though Africans have taken stairs to address malaria, a lot alleviate remains to be done.There is a great need for education on the causes of malaria as by understanding the causes of malaria noise and treatment strategies can be in effect implemented. There is also the need to train the African traditional healers on malaria so that they can use better approaches in the treatment of malaria. References Falola, T. & Heaton, M. M. (2007). HIV/AIDS, illness and African well-being. New York, NY Rochester Press. Kakkilaya, B. S. (2006). Transmission of malaria. Retrieved 23 August, 2010 from http//www. malariasite. com/malaria/Transmission. htm Leary, N. (2008).Climate change and vulnerability. USA Earthscan. Maslove et al. (2009). Barriers to the effective treatment and prevention of malaria in Africa A systematic review of qualitative studies. BMC foreign Human Rights, 9(29), 2321- 2337. Russel, P. J. & Wolfe, S. L. (2008). Biology sight 2 The dynamic science, volume 2. Belmont, CA Thomson Publishers. Sherman, I. W. (1998). Malaria Parasite biology, pathogenesis, and protection. Washington, DC ASM Press. World bank. (2009). escalate the fight against malaria The world banks booster program for malaria control in Africa. 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