Culture and Disease Essay

Malaria is one of the infirmitys that argon responsible for the highest mortality and mor crusadeness rates in Africa especially among children (World Bank, 2009). In fact, it is one of the gr wareest semi ordinary health concerns in Africa and most of the health programs ar aimed at bar and treatment of the distemper (World Bank, 2009). This disease is common among Afri smokes comp go to bed to other ethnic groups overdue to economic, ethnical, economic and social factors. In a bid to competitiveness this scourge, Africans deem been using some(prenominal) methods to control the dust of malaria and the methods have included twain the modern and conventional approaches.Malaria is an infectious disease which is ordinarily ca apply by a parazoan that is known as plasmodium. These parasites are protozoan in temper and they are of several species which include plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium vivax (Sherman, 1998). Among these species, the most serious and fatal species to human beings is P. falciparum. The plasmodium is catching to humanity by the female anopheles mosquitoes and its lifecycle involves two swarms which are the human host and a mosquito vector (Sherman, 1998).In the lifecycle of the plasmodium it castings sporozoites which are build in the gut of the female mosquito (Russel & Wolfe, 2008). The female mosquito transmits the sporozoites to human beings through a bite. These sporozoites sound into the human liver w here they enter the liver cells and mature into a schizont which contains many merozoites (Russel & Wolfe, 2008). These merozoites are released into transmission linestream 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 red cells.As the red cells are bursting to release the merozoites, toxic compounds are released which causes the fever and the clinical s ymptoms that are associated with malaria (Russel & Wolfe, 2008). In the bloodstream, some of the merozoites differentiate into the male and female gametes which are taken up by the mosquito from the infected person and these two fecundate each other 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 mode of malaria transmission is by mosquito bites, there are other methods that can transmit the malarial parasite. One of these is blood blood transfusion following existence of dormant plasmodium parasites in the donors blood. This can determine the transfused person to suffer from a febrile sickness and for these reasons in areas where malaria is endemic a full course of chloroquine is administered to potential recipients of blood (Kakkilaya, 2006). other mode of transmission is transmission from mother to child among enceinte women.These parasites pas s to the child through the placenta especially if the mother has no granting immunity (Kakkilaya, 2006). The last mode of transmission is through needle stick suffering which can be either accidental as happens among healthcare providers or intentional as happens among drug addicts who share needles (Kakkilaya, 2006). There are several factors that make Africans unguarded to malaria and one of these are the environmental factors which contribute to shell out of the disease. To begin with, malaria is a climate related disease where it is mostly engraft in the tropic and subtropic regions.The climate in Africa peculiarly the yearbook mean temperature is mostly within the tolerance limit of the plasmodium species and this makes the parasite to thrive and so rendering the populations living in this area vulnerable (Leary, 2008). Another environmental factor is weather disturbances in Africa which influences the lift sites of the vectors thereby increasing the transmission poten tial of malaria (Leary, 2008). These weather disturbances issue forth in the form of prolonged droughts and heavy rains. There are several social and cultural factors that make Africans vulnerable to malaria disease.One of these is increased human population in Africa and this has guide to swamp reclamation and deforestation in a bid to find more land for settlement. The effect of these activities has been the creation of puddles which provides good breeding sites for the mosquitoes which in turn transmit malaria (Leary, 2008). When the vegetation is removed, what happens is that the temperatures increase and this aids in malaria transmission. Another factor is self medication where many batch in Africa buy drugs over the counter and treat themselves at home (Leary, 2008).This has led to development of drug resistant strains of plasmodium necessitating continuous replacement of anti-malarial drugs. This has do the populations in Africa susceptible to the disease since instead of dealing with the fuss the populations pee more problems by creating drug resistant strains of plasmodium. In addition, many populate treat themselves with anti-malarial drugs that have already been ruled as in in force(p) thereby putting themselves at risk 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 atomic consider 99 Africa people are required by the Public Health represent to clear the bushes around their houses as a way of preventing the stretch of white-livered fever yet studies have shown that clearing of bushes creates favorable breeding conditions for malaria (Leary, 2008). This increases the photo of Africans to malaria disease since in effect(p) measures are not taken to prevent give out of malaria.Economic factors as well as increase the vulnerability of Africans to malaria. Poverty levels in Africa a re high which means that there are inadequate economic resources to redact in healthcare thereby making people vulnerable to malaria epidemics. around of the populations here live below a dollar a day and also cases of food shortages are very common which makes obtaining food quite an than malaria prevention a priority (Leary, 2008). These economic hardships also make it effortful for populations to seek good healthcare services.Most just go to the mystic clinics or to the local dispensaries most of which have no equipment for diagnosis thus resulting in inappropriate prescriptions (Leary, 2008). In addition, some of the medical staff found in these healthcare facilities are not qualified. The reason as to wherefore most of the people prefer the local dispensaries is cost constraints where they cannot afford mechanized run and thus prefer to use cheap 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 deliberate that malaria is caused by witchcraft or transcendental 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 medicate which is more effective but are treated using traditional medicine which is not that effective.This makes the populations susceptible to malaria epidemics since the problem is not being turn to thereby ensuring the spread of the disease and increasing mortality rates. Other people associate malaria with certain foods and a good example is populations in Tanzania who believe that malaria is due to consumption of lemon yellow meal (Leary, 2008). This belief results fr om the fact that maize meals in Tanzania are commonly consumed in times of food shortages which occur following too much or too little rain (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 therefore 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 impression to infectious mosquito bites and these include indoor spraying using insecticides, use of bed nets that are insecticide treated, and use of repellants (Falola & Heaton, 2007).Insecticides are used to reduce the number of adult mosquitoes while materials such as repellants repel mosquitoes away from an case-by-case thereby curbing the spread of the disease. Another method involves treatment of the disease using drugs. Though drug resistance has been a great problem in fighting malaria, drugs have proven to be effective in suppressing the parasite within the host thus preventing further spread of the disease (Falola & Heaton, 2007). Other treatment methods involve interfering with the breeding sites of mosquitoes and these include run out of stagnant water 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. handed-down healers in Africa diagnose and treat malaria using indigenous roots, herbs, and leaves which are usually prepared and taken orally (Maslove et al. , 2009). This acts as a barrier to the fight against malaria since their diagnosis is based merely on symptoms and not diagnostic consequence which may lead to improper treatment thus further spread of malaria due to delayed treatm ent (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 remains 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 steps to actors line malaria, a lot still remains to be done.There is a great need for education on the causes of malaria as by instinct the causes of malaria preventive and treatment strategies can be effectively implemented. There is also the need to educate 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). Tran smission 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 soft studies. BMC International Human Rights, 9(29), 2321- 2337. Russel, P. J. & Wolfe, S. L. (2008). Biology tidy sum 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). Intensifying the fight against malaria The being banks booster program for malaria control in Africa. Washington, DC World Bank.