Over 216 million people were diagnosed with malaria in 2010. On this World Mosquito Day, celebs have teamed up with Malaria No More (and CollegeHumor) to launch Malarious – a collection of 24 comedy videos [1] raising awareness about the disease.
Stars like Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott, and Brooklyn Decker are among those that have lent their voices to the fight.
World Mosquito Day [2] was created on August 20, 1897 when Dr. Ronald Ross discovered that the malaria [3] parasite (Plasmodium) was transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected female mosquito [4].
Symptoms of the disease include: fever, headache, vomiting, and usually appear between 10-15 days after being bitten. Malaria can become life-threatening (it disrupts the blood supply to vital organs) if not treated.
Here are 5 facts about the (preventable and treatable) disease that affects almost half of the world’s population.
- Over 655,000 people died from malaria in 2010. More than 90 percent of these deaths were in Africa.
- 35 countries (30 in sub-Saharan Africa and 5 in Asia) account for 98 percent of global malaria deaths.
- Malaria is the 5th leading cause of death from infectious diseases globally.
- It’s the second leading cause of death from infectious diseases in Africa, after HIV/AIDS.
- Sleeping under a mosquito net cuts malaria cases in children by half and reduce child deaths by 20 percent.
Run an awareness campaign [5] about this issue at your school. GO [5]