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MALARIA IN THE GAMBIA
Malaria is a disease which is rampant in areas with poor environmental sanitation. It accounted for about 8% of deaths in all ages in the Gambia in 2002 (WHO), and the disease accounted for 29% of all deaths in children under 5 years of age between 2000 and 2003 in the Gambia (WHO).
Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity in the Gambia, leading to the loss of thousands of hours of productivity and income for the country.
Improved sanitation would lead to instant changes in the incidence of malaria.
Banjul is notorious for hosting the insect vector for the disease, the female anopheles mosquito. Taking a stroll in the Gambia’s capital city at dusk, one can see scores of mosquitoes encircling the heads of passers by in a manner similar to the way angels are depicted! The problem is aggravated by the presence of open gutters with stagnant water in most cities and towns.
Most people in the Gambia have probably developed some form of resistance to the disease, leaving those with compromised immune systems (the young, the malnourished and the elderly) exposed to the ordeal of malaria.
Resistance to Malaria
Gambians living abroad are also at risk of developing serious forms of the disease depending on how long they have been away. Such people lose their resistance to the disease owing to lack of exposure to the disease in the countries they now live in.
Their bodies pretty much shelve the resistance while they are living abroad because it is no longer needed. Once such a person travels back to the Gambia, they can contract a deadly form of the disease before the body has the chance to re-activate or re-acquire resistance to the disease. It is therefore advised that all Gambians living abroad as well as non-Gambians wishing to travel to the country start anti-malarial prophylactic drugs as early as 2 weeks before arrival and for a similar period after leaving the country.
Malaria Imports to the West
The Gambia accounts for a considerable amount of imported cases of malaria to the UK and Germany amongst other European countries.
Various preventive measures such as the use of insect repellants and mosquito nets have a role to play in preventing the disease, but reduction of the disease below significant levels will only take place with improved environmental sanitation in homes and the country at large.
Over-diagnosing Malaria
Malaria is often over-diagnosed in tropical countries, and health professionals should desist from encouraging this practice.
Diseases such as leukemia, typhoid and hypertension can all present with symptoms similar to those of malaria.
Thus malaria which has been treated repeatedly and continues to appear must be investigated thoroughly.
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