ANY disease that each year incapacitates 220 million Africans – or more than 30 per cent of the population – and kills 1 million is a global emergency.
Malaria bleeds the continent to the tune of $12 billion in direct costs every year, resulting in an annual loss of an alarming 1.3 per cent of gross domestic product growth.Our fragile health systems are groaning under the strain – up to 50 per cent of patients are those suffering from the disease during the malaria season and it places great demands on already limited resources, both financial and manpower.In some countries, 40 per cent of the public health spending is swallowed by this scourge.Because of lost man hours, many families are not able to earn, plant, or harvest enough to survive on their own. The disease sends productivity levels plunging in critical sectors, such as farming, mining, and manufacturing, and causes children to miss school.Five of Africa’s most populous countries – Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya – with immense agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service potential have the most malaria cases in the world. This alone is a huge blow to the continent.
http://www.thisday.co.tz/?l=10822
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