YOU WANT TO STOP MALARIA IN MALAWI? STOP BIODIVERSITY LOSS

Malaria causes more than 8 million illnesses in Malawi every year and every Malawian is at risk of Malaria.

In Africa, Malaria can be traced back to the time humans started to change their environment to get nutritional and economical needs. Communities cleared forests for farmland and grazing of animals creating in the process a favorable environment for breeding of anopheles mosquito, a vector of Plasmodium, the parasite that causes Malaria.

Cleared land receives more sunlight which favors development of mosquitoes. When ground temperature increases, the rate at which mosquitoes develop into adults also increases which in turn increases the frequency at which mosquitoes feed on blood and transmit Malaria. The increase in temperature further increases the incubation of parasites within mosquitoes which increases the presence of parasites that can be transmitted. Further, deforestation leads to soil erosion and formation of gullies which trap water and eventually become breeding sites of mosquitoes.

Reduction of non-human species that are natural predators of mosquitoes also increases spread of Malaria. Biodiversity degradation results in elimination of species like dragonflies, ladybugs, lacewings, goldfish that prey on anopheles larvae as well as the adult mosquito. Bats have even been reported to eat up to 1000 mosquitoes per night. When natural predators are threatened or endangered due to habitat removal, the population of mosquito’s increases. Preventing Malaria therefore not only requires answering the question how by developing new drugs or repellents, but also requires us to answer the question why by trying to understand what led to the emergence and spread of Malaria in the first place.

The World Health Organization recognizes the urgent need for better understanding of the ecology and biology of vectors that spread disease, such as mosquitoes and ticks. Better knowledge of the biology of anopheles mosquito and its interaction with biodiversity could improve strategies for mosquito control and reduce the number of infective bites.

It is very sad to note that Malawi’s malaria control strategy pays more attention on the improvement of clinical malaria diagnosis and treatment rather than on programmes that control parasites. Considering that Malaria distribution factors depend on ecological factors that affect the survival and multiplication of anopheles mosquito, stopping Malaria can begin with stopping biodiversity loss. All Malaria programmes in Malawi should take into consideration biodiversity issues by ensuring that ecosystems are managed to achieve biological conservation and eliminate plasmodium parasites in human population.

This article also appeared in the Nation Newspaper https://mwnation.com/preserve-biodiversity-to-stop-malaria/