In this blog post, I will address what my final paper topic is on and give background information on it and why I am interested in the topic.
For my final paper, I plan on addressing malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is a disease that is caused by a parasite that uses mosquitos as its vector to humans. Victims of malaria experience flu-like symptoms and if left untreated, they will die. Malaria is especially prevalent in temperate areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the CDC, in 2008, there were 190-311 million cases of malaria worldwide and 700 thousand to one million deaths, most occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa (http://www.cdc.gov/MALARIA/). Malaria can also be spread from a pregnant mother to her infant child. There are many reasons why malaria is especially prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the deadly species of mosquitos that transmit malaria and since this place is very temperate, these mosquitos thrive in this region. Also, many Sub-Saharan Africa countries lack the medical and public health infrastructure and resources to deal with malaria prevention. Furthermore, the disease has shown increasing drug resistance to past antibiotics and has mutated in even dangerous forms. The problem is complicated by the fact that money donated to malaria prevention campaigns by the World Health Organization (WHO) usually ends up in the hands of African military and political groups seeking for personal benefit due to the lack of infrastructure and the confusion when it comes to distribution of resources. Malaria is such a big problem in Sub-Saharan Africa because it causes the economic system to be unstable. When people are infected, they are unable to go to work and thus, become poor because they are receiving no wages, which is bad for both the person and the company/place he or she works for.
Malaria prevention includes bed nets, indoor insecticide sprayings, vaccines, and DDT. Bed nets are the most probable and cost efficient among these. However, it is difficult to ensure that all Africans are properly using bed nets. Indoor insecticide sprayings are very effective but they cause toxic and smelly odors. Vaccines are obviously the most effective prevention measure and in recent years, there has been a lot of research done on developing a malaria curing vaccine. However, all the vaccines that have been introduced so far have not had great success and the anti-drug resistant nature of the malaria causing parasite makes it difficult for researchers to develop such a vaccine. Also, vaccines are expensive, so it will not be available to the general Sub-Saharan Africa public. DDT is another very effective prevention measure but it has caused a lot of controversy over the use of it when dealing with malaria. DDT itself introduces many other dangerous side effects and depending on the individual, it can cause many unpleasant reactions.
I am interested in malaria because I am surprised by its pervasiveness and its effect on the economies of Sub-Saharan African countries. I am amazed by how such a disease can make the economies of 20 or so countries suffer so much. Also, the nature of the disease is very interesting to research on because of its uniqueness. Furthermore, the issue of malaria not only involves public health preventions and medicinal cures, but also involves governments of other countries seeking power in the region by getting involved, numerous global organizations trying to provide help, and military regimes within the Sub-Saharan African countries trying to seek personal empowerment. The issue covers public health, medicine, politics, warfare, and international relations, and that is what interests me the most.
Y.P., you need to narrow down your focus. Sub-saharan Africa is an area covering 3/4 of the continent and spanning many different countries. Pick one country and focus on why malaria is a problem there. Although you can find a lot of statistics on the impact of malaria on the continent, when you start looking at the determinants of the issue you will find that it's impossible to cover the whole region because each country has different issues. I would also suggest that you focus on a specified time period to make your paper more manageable. Finally, I would suggest that in this paper you stay away from discussing medical/technological interventions that are still in the research phase; you can never know how those things will pan out, whether they'll be effective, when they'll be available, or what kind of logistical issues might come into play until/unless that particular intervention is actually finished. Keep your solutions discussion based on interventions that can be implemented now, and now 5-10 years from now (which, incidentally, actually tends means "who knows when?" in the research/technology world).
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