WORLD MALARIA DAY

This year's theme for World Malaria Day is "Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement". In relation to this theme, WHO will concentrate on the third "i" of implementation, particularly on how crucial it is to reach marginalised groups using the current tools and methods.

World Malaria Day is marked on the 25th of April annually. World Malaria Day emphasise the importance of ongoing financial support and political commitment to the prevention and control of malaria. The WHO Member States implemented it during the 2007 World Health Assembly.

World Health Organisation (WHO) established the day in May 2007 at the 60th session of the World Health Assembly. On April 25, 2008, the first World Malaria Day was observed under the banner "Malaria: A Disease Without Borders." The day was chosen to honour the occasion in 2000 when African leaders met in Abuja and pledged to cut the number of deaths from malaria on the continent by half by 2010. Since that time, World Malaria Day has been observed on April 25 every year with a different theme.

When a mosquito bites you, it transmits the deadly parasitic disease known as malaria. The mosquito injects malaria parasites into your bloodstream when it bites you. Not a virus or a particular type of bacteria, but parasites are what actually cause malaria. Malaria can result in serious health issues like seizures, brain damage, breathing difficulties, organ failure, and even death if it is not treated.

Malaria symptoms are comparable to flu symptoms. They include chills that make your whole body tremble, sweating and fever, headaches and muscle aches, fatigue, chest pain, breathing issues and cough, diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting. Anaemia and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes) can develop as malaria worsens.

To kill the parasite, prescription medications are used to treat malaria. The type of malaria parasite you have, the severity of your symptoms, your age, and whether you are pregnant will all affect the types of medications and the length of your treatment. Chloroquine phosphate and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are the two antimalarial medications used most frequently.

In order to prevent mosquito bites, you should also take precautions. Apply DEET (diethyltoluamide)-based insect repellent to exposed skin, cover beds with mosquito netting, install screens on windows and doors, treat clothing, mosquito nets, tents, sleeping bags and other fabrics with permethrin, and cover your skin with long sleeves and trousers to reduce your risk of contracting malaria.