Saturday 26 April 2014

World Malaria Day and UK statistics for 2013

Yesterday was World Malaria Day - always on the 25th April and this week the World Health Organization published a new malaria video lasting just 4 minutes 16 seconds.  It's a very interesting clip stating that half the world's population is at risk of malaria. The video is an introduction to this disease with a few key facts about its global epidemiology, symptoms, mode of transmission through infected mosquitoes, its diagnosis and treatment and the main means to prevent its transmission and limit its spread.  To view, just click on the image below.


Yesterday Public Health England also published their figures for imported malaria infections reported in the UK in 2013.  There were 1501 cases which was a rise of nine per cent on 2012 when there were 1378 cases. Seven people died from malaria in the UK in 2013 and 79% of malaria cases were due to thew dangerous and sometimes fatal Plasmodium falciparum.  For more information see here and  for more detail see here