Friends of all Nations Voluntary Organisations

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FANVO is a non-profit making and non-governmental voluntary organizatinon based in Ghana (West Africa) registered under the companies code 1953 from the Registrar General Department of Ghana with the registration number G.14606.

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Address :	Friends of all nations Voluntary organization P.O.Box 220 Madina Accra-Ghana West Africa
Phone :	233 - 244 -983 -270
Email :	support@fanvo.org
Fax :	233 - 21 - 514 - 804

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International trade rules mean that drugs to treat the disease are too expensive for most poor people; the scope of the disease means that parents die and children are left both orphaned

and head of the family; badly maintained infrastructures mean there are no doctors or health clinics for over 30 kilometres.

In Africa a shocking 60 million people have been directly affected by the epidemic. We are working with the government of Ghana to establish National AIDS Commissions and community support groups that act as lifelines in hard-hit regions.

In Asia, the virus is now spreading even faster than in Africa, with 7.2 million people infected. We have expanded our work across the region to help vulnerable people, such as trafficked women and girls forced into prostitution, to fight for affordable treatment and access to AIDS prevention information.

Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite. Patients with malaria typically are very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. Four kinds of malaria

parasites can infect humans: Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae .

Infection with any of the malaria species can make a person feel very ill; infection with P. falciparum , if not promptly treated, may be fatal. Although malaria can be a fatal disease, illness and death from malaria are largely preventable.

Is malaria a common disease?
Yes. The World Health Organization estimates that each year 300-500 million cases of malaria occur and more than 1 million people die of malaria. About 1,300 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year. The vast majority of cases in the United States are in travelers and immigrants returning from malaria-risk areas, many from sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Is malaria a serious disease?
Yes. Malaria is a leading cause of death and disease worldwide, especially in developing countries. Most deaths occur in young children. For example, in Africa, a child dies from malaria every 30 seconds. Because malaria causes so much illness and death, the disease is a great drain on many national economies. Since many countries with malaria are already among the poorer nations, the disease maintains a vicious cycle of disease and poverty.

How is malaria transmitted?
Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and they must have been infected through a previous blood meal taken on an infected person.

When a mosquito bites, a small amount of blood is taken in which contains the microscopic malaria parasites. The parasite grows and matures in the mosquito's gut for a week or more, then travels to the mosquito's salivary glands. When the mosquito next takes a blood meal, these parasites mix with the saliva and are injected into the bite.

Once in the blood, the parasites travel to the liver and enter liver cells to grow and multiply. During this "incubation period", the infected person has no symptoms. After as few as 8 days or as long as several months, the parasites leave the liver cells and enter red blood cells. Once in the cells, they continue to grow and multiply. After they mature, the infected red blood cells rupture, freeing the parasites to attack and enter other red blood cells. Toxins released when the red cells burst are what cause the typical fever, chills, and flu-like malaria symptoms.

If a mosquito bites this infected person and ingests certain types of malaria parasites ("gametocytes"), the cycle of transmission continues.

Because the malaria parasite is found in red blood cells, malaria can also be transmitted through blood transfusion, organ transplant, or the shared use of needles or syringes contaminated with blood. Malaria may also be transmitted from a mother to her fetus before or during delivery ("congenital" malaria).

Malaria is not transmitted from person to person like a cold or the flu. You cannot get malaria from casual contact with malaria-infected people.

Malaria kills nearly a million African children under 5 years old each year, more than any other single infection. Every day 3,000 children die from the disease; those who survive may suffer from brain damage or paralysis. Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) are one of the very best ways to protect against malaria. When the Measles Initiative began in 2001, it offered free measles vaccines and vitamin A during campaigns. After proven success in reaching more than 90 percent of the targeted age group during each campaign, the Initiative began adding other lifesaving interventions into its campaigns including ITNs.

ITNs are key components in fighting death and illness due to malaria. Malaria is the number one cause of child mortality in Africa, killing nearly 1 million children below 5 years of age each year. Ninety percent of deaths due to malaria worldwide occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria continues to be one of the most serious public health problems in Africa, causing high morbidity and mortality (Samba, 1997). This is certainly the case in Ghana , which has a situation typical of resource-poor countries with high malaria endemicity, where the most biologically vulnerable groups are children under five years and pregnant women. Its ill effects are felt primarily by the poor and disadvantaged. Access to treatment and prevention appears to be generally worsening: