Top 15 Catherine Falade Quotes

I call for coordinated action globally to minimise the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance to malaria and all countries need national action plans for malaria-resistant drugs.

The spread of resistant strains to other parts of the world, including Nigeria, has now become a major public health challenge.

As at July 2016, resistance to the first –line treatment for P. falciparum malaria(Artemisinin-based combination therapies also known as (ACTs), has been confirmed in five countries of the Greater Mekong sub –region. The Greater Mekong sub-region include Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

They consume more health-care resources than patients infected with non-resistant strains of the same bacteria.

They should be informed by healthcare givers, community centres, the media and all stakeholders that what the vaccine does is to reduce the attack of malaria and not to totally prevent it

RTS, S/AS01 is being assessed as a complementary malaria control tool that could potentially be added to and not replace the core package of proven malaria preventive, diagnostic and treatment measures.

WHO has adopted these recommendations and is strongly supportive of the need to proceed with the pilots as the next step for the world’s first malaria vaccine.

In October 2015, two independent WHO advisory groups recommended the pilot implementation of RTS, S/ASO1 in parts of three to five sub-Saharan African countries.

In July 2015, the European Medicines Agency issued a positive scientific opinion on the vaccine’s risk-benefit balance.

More than 20 other vaccine constructs are currently being evaluated in clinical trials or are at an advanced pre-clinical development.

RTS, S/AS01 is the most advanced vaccine against the most deadly form of human malaria –Plasmodium falciparum.

The poor masses are also affected due to ineffective and costly way of treatment, which cannot be afforded by the parents.

A lot of the adults say chloroquine works because they had never had malaria to start with. They were probably stressed or tired from too much work or a hectic lifestyle. So, instead of resting, they conclude that they have malaria and then go ahead to take chloroquine before retiring to bed. By the time they have slept for a day or two, they feel fine, and they assume that they had malaria that chloroquine cured.

Any patient that is positive for malaria on the rapid diagnostic test should be treated with an efficacious drug and that is Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) and not chloroquine. Chloroquine has failed. Many adults will tell you chloroquine works for malaria. But that is because chloroquine has an anti-inflammatory effect and so the aches and pains will go. Chloroquine also has fever-lowering effects which also makes the patient feel better as the fever resolves at least for a while as he/she will not feel febrile but the parasites are still swimming in the blood and growing because the parasites have developed resistance to it.

It is important for the populace to know that malaria has no particular signs and symptoms. The signs and symptoms you get in malaria are the same as what you will get in any infection like pneumonia, hepatitis, or some other viral infection. Even with a boil that is not in a very visible place, there could be a fever, headache, as well as aches and pains. It thus becomes important that malaria diagnosis is confirmed by laboratory diagnosis using malaria rapid diagnostic test or quality-assured microscopy.