The number of people dying from malaria has declined significantly in the last decade. The decline is due in large part to global efforts to increase access to preventive tools – such as mosquito nets – and improved access to health care for diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Yet in 2010, an estimated 655,000 people died from the disease, many of them young children from sub-Saharan Africa under the age of five.
Severe malaria, identified by clinical or laboratory evidence of vital organ failure, is the most deadly form of the disease. Risk of severe malaria is particularly high amongst young children and pregnant women, as well as those with low immunity, such as visitors from non-endemic countries.
Unlike uncomplicated malaria, which can be identified and treated by community health workers (selected men or women from the community given basic medical training), treating the severe form of the disease requires more advanced medical skills, which often cannot be found close to home.
The risk of severe malaria in someone infected with a malaria parasite is increased with time. Diagnosing and treating uncomplicated malaria quickly is therefore crucial in order to reduce deaths from the severe form of the disease.
In rural western Uganda, where malaria accounts for almost a quarter of deaths in children under five, Malaria Consortium is training community health workers to diagnose and give first line treatment for patients with severe malaria. An anti-malarial called artesunate – recommended by the WHO for treatment for severe malaria – is used in a suppository capsule, enabling community health workers to easily administer the medicine to patients unable to take oral medicine, who are displaying symptoms of severe malaria.
Providing access to this form of treatment in the community, buys much needed time for the patient to reach professional health care, often a great distance away, where intravenous anti-malarial drugs can be given.
Watch our video to find out more.
Georgina Mann is communications officer at Malaria Consortium
This content is produced and controlled by Malaria Consortium
