8 ms·

> Malaria deaths peaked around 930,000 a year in 2004, and is around 600,000 a year now Your link does a good job showing this, but for those who don't click a

by Exmoor 5y ago

> Malaria deaths peaked around 930,000 a year in 2004, and is around 600,000 a year now Your link does a good job showing this, but for those who don't click and scroll down it's probably worth mentioning that the vast majority of those deaths are in central Africa. So it's not just a lot of deaths, but it's a really significant portion of the population and, as you said, mostly children.

eloff 5y ago
I think it's common knowledge that malaria primarily affects Africa, but you're right that it's particularly devastating to a couple dozen mostly very poor countries.
- black_puppydog 5y ago
  I think the point was mostly that comparing the case/fatality numbers of covid19 - a truly global pandemic - with those of malaria has to factor in the size of the population being exposed. Sure, Malaria is unlikely to spread like covid or it would have done so a long time ago, but the absolute numbers don't tell the whole story about how bad each disease is.
  - eloff 5y ago
    Actually malaria used to be in much larger areas of the world, including the United States. But the population was much smaller at that time. It's a good point about absolute numbers versus population relative numbers.
- baybal2 5y ago
  Siberia used to be a giant malaria hotspot, and then it was suddenly gone at the onset of 20th century, and first semblances of effective treatment. Some say climate change killed it, some say the extinction of a mosquito species carrying it, some better nutrition, some say quinine.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  The fact that malaria is so common in those areas is almost certainly a significant contributing factor to the intractable poverty in those areas. It's hard to be productive when you are sick all the time and/or caring for someone sick.
ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
I grew up in Africa. We weren't as scared of Ebola, as we were, of good old Malaria. It's also the gift that keeps on giving. Once you get it, it does a reunion tour, every now and then, for the rest of your life. At the dinner table, we (expats) used to have a bowl of quinine tablets, set out like a condiment. I really hope this works out, because, thanks to climate change, the lower 48 may get a chance to find something in common with our neighbors to the south.
- nanijoe 5y ago
  I dont know what part of Africa you grew up in, but growing up in Nigeria, no one was scared of Malaria. It is treated pretty much the same way Americans treat getting the Flu
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    I was born in Nigeria. I barely remember it, but what I can remember, is being constantly told how bad it was. It's entirely possible that my parents had an unreasoning fear of it. When we are kids, they are our source of Truth. I also remember my sister getting caught in one of those 'squito swarms, near the Delta. That was freaking awful. Uganda was a bit worse; but we also had other things to be scared of. I should also mention that Ebola wasn't actually around (that we knew of), when I was a kid, but we hasd some fun diseases. The parasitic ones (like Elephantitis and Belhartzia) were pretty difficult to look at.
    - nanijoe 5y ago
      Well then, nice to meet a fellow Nigerian :) Ebola is a recent thing AFAIK, so it would make sense that no one was freaking out about it when you were a kid. To be fair, it does sound like you were in rural Nigeria, so my Malaria experience is likely different from yours
      - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
        Someone pointed out that us Europeans were probably a lot more sensitive to this than others, who had been around it, all their lives. Also, my mother was the prime vector for my information, and she might have been a bit freaked out by all the fun ways Africa has to kill people. But I'm still here. I seem to have survived. My African friends would run around barefoot over the most God-awful crap, and were some of the healthiest people I've ever known.
Fomite 5y ago
Malaria is a massive drain on the lives, well being and economies of central Africa. An effective malaria vaccine would be huge.
- sharken 5y ago
  And from the perspective of most africans a lot more relevant than the Corona vaccine. I wish the rest of the world would realize that Africa first and foremost benefits from this new Malaria vaccine.

by Exmoor 5y ago

eloff 5y ago

I think it's common knowledge that malaria primarily affects Africa, but you're right that it's particularly devastating to a couple dozen mostly very poor countries.

black_puppydog 5y ago
I think the point was mostly that comparing the case/fatality numbers of covid19 - a truly global pandemic - with those of malaria has to factor in the size of the population being exposed. Sure, Malaria is unlikely to spread like covid or it would have done so a long time ago, but the absolute numbers don't tell the whole story about how bad each disease is.
- eloff 5y ago
  Actually malaria used to be in much larger areas of the world, including the United States. But the population was much smaller at that time. It's a good point about absolute numbers versus population relative numbers.
baybal2 5y ago
Siberia used to be a giant malaria hotspot, and then it was suddenly gone at the onset of 20th century, and first semblances of effective treatment. Some say climate change killed it, some say the extinction of a mosquito species carrying it, some better nutrition, some say quinine.
DoreenMichele 5y ago
The fact that malaria is so common in those areas is almost certainly a significant contributing factor to the intractable poverty in those areas. It's hard to be productive when you are sick all the time and/or caring for someone sick.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

I grew up in Africa. We weren't as scared of Ebola, as we were, of good old Malaria. It's also the gift that keeps on giving. Once you get it, it does a reunion tour, every now and then, for the rest of your life. At the dinner table, we (expats) used to have a bowl of quinine tablets, set out like a condiment. I really hope this works out, because, thanks to climate change, the lower 48 may get a chance to find something in common with our neighbors to the south.

nanijoe 5y ago
I dont know what part of Africa you grew up in, but growing up in Nigeria, no one was scared of Malaria. It is treated pretty much the same way Americans treat getting the Flu
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  I was born in Nigeria. I barely remember it, but what I can remember, is being constantly told how bad it was. It's entirely possible that my parents had an unreasoning fear of it. When we are kids, they are our source of Truth. I also remember my sister getting caught in one of those 'squito swarms, near the Delta. That was freaking awful. Uganda was a bit worse; but we also had other things to be scared of. I should also mention that Ebola wasn't actually around (that we knew of), when I was a kid, but we hasd some fun diseases. The parasitic ones (like Elephantitis and Belhartzia) were pretty difficult to look at.
  - nanijoe 5y ago
    Well then, nice to meet a fellow Nigerian :) Ebola is a recent thing AFAIK, so it would make sense that no one was freaking out about it when you were a kid. To be fair, it does sound like you were in rural Nigeria, so my Malaria experience is likely different from yours
    - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
      Someone pointed out that us Europeans were probably a lot more sensitive to this than others, who had been around it, all their lives. Also, my mother was the prime vector for my information, and she might have been a bit freaked out by all the fun ways Africa has to kill people. But I'm still here. I seem to have survived. My African friends would run around barefoot over the most God-awful crap, and were some of the healthiest people I've ever known.

Fomite 5y ago

Malaria is a massive drain on the lives, well being and economies of central Africa. An effective malaria vaccine would be huge.

sharken 5y ago
And from the perspective of most africans a lot more relevant than the Corona vaccine. I wish the rest of the world would realize that Africa first and foremost benefits from this new Malaria vaccine.