In this post, I will be addressing the magnitude of the problem my final paper will be on.
Problem Statement (not final): Malaria in Nigeria has caused millions of deaths in the country and has had a enormous toll on the economic and social structures of the country.
Malaria causes around 250,000 deaths in children under five every year in Nigeria. An enormous proportion of the country's hospital resources are devoted to treating malaria and the medical staff work overtime all the time. Among the 151 million people in Nigeria, 110 million are clinically diagnosed with malaria. In Nigeria, malaria causes 11% of maternal deaths, and 60% of out-patient visits and 30% of hospitalizations are malaria related. Around $870 million are used every year for prevention and treatment of malaria in Nigeria and the toll on the country's economy is significant. Therefore, malaria has a great burden on society because it not only affects people physically, it affects people mentally, psychologically, and financially. As a result, the economic and social development of the country will be hindered.
Surveillance is rigorously implemented in assessing malaria in Nigeria. Records from all health facilities in the country are reported to the organizations responsible for data collection. Data is collected using standardized tools and there is a monthly reporting system for malaria in Nigeria. The organizations then analyze the data and decide what types of programs should be implemented in preventing and treating malaria and how the limited resources can be most effectively used.
There are several indicators of malaria in Nigeria. Direct indicators include the fact that Nigeria's under 5 mortality rank is number nine in the world, as described by UNICEF. Also, only 8% of Nigerian households own at least one insecticide treated bednet (ITN), 6% of Nigerian children under age 5 sleep under ITNs and 33% of Nigerian children under age 5 receive anti-malarial drugs, documented by the Department of Health Services. Indirect indicators include a high prevalence rate (3.1) of HIV in Nigerians aged 15-49, documented by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. Other indirect indicators include the fact that only 47% of Nigerians use improved drinking water sources and only 30% use improved sanitation facilities, as studied by a combination of organizations including UNICEF and The World Health Organization.
There are several strengths and weaknesses of the above indicators. Bednets are very effective and cost-effective in preventing malaria so the use of bednets and the prevalence of malaria are directly but not exclusively related. Malaria has an enormous toll on children and the high ranking Nigeria received in its under 5 mortality rate means that malaria is widespread in this country. The high prevalence rate of HIV resembles a link to a high prevalence rate of malaria because the two diseases are mutually cohesive. Also, improved sanitation and a cleaner water source decreases the spread of malaria, as studies have shown. The weakness of the above indicators is that most of them were all conducted as surveys of Nigerians. Surveys bring up all kinds of voluntary response bias and are not the best type of data collection.
sources:
1. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nigeria_49472.html
2. http://mobileactive.org/malaria-kills-getting-63-million-bednets-nigerians-rapidsms
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1890276/
4. http://nmcpnigeria.org/?p=m-and-e
5. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nigeria_statistics.html
Y.P., I think you need to reformulate your problem statement to eliminate the part about the economic and social effects of malaria. Your paper needs to be about the public health aspect, and while the economic and social effects are very real and very much a problem, that is beyond the scope of this class. Your problem needs to be about a health issue or outcome related to malaria.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm confused by your discussion of indicators. Why are you using child mortality as an indicator for the magnitude of the mortality of malaria? Is malaria such a large cause of child mortality that it dwarfs all other causes of child death in Nigeria? If so, then where is the data to back up that statement?
Low use of insecticide treated bednets would be an indicator of the failure of malaria control efforts, not of malaria mortality. For something to be an indicator, it needs to either directly describe the problem (such as simply, the number of deaths or percent of total deaths in Nigeria caused by malaria), or it needs to have a fairly strong positive correlation with the problem (e.g. the proportion of children that receive malaria treatment).
I'm also confused about the correlation with HIV. What do you mean by "mutually cohesive"? Is there a strong correlation between infection with HIV and infection with malaria? If so, where is your data source? You really needed to do in-text citations of your sources instead of just listing a bibliography.
Finally, I think you need to use more journal articles. Websites can be useful in some circumstances, but I think there must be a huge amount of academic discussion about malaria, and you really need to use those as your primary sources of information rather than websites.
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