On the UNs malaria website,two maps of the world are presented,one above the other. On top,countries are shaded in red depending on their incidence of malaria. At the bottom,countries are shaded in blue depending on how poor they are. The two maps look identical,except in different colours. The simple visual trick brings home the link between malaria and underdevelopment as no number of numerically dense tables could. Malaria is not,like so much else,a consequence of underdevelopment; its a crucial,maybe even one of the few most crucial,causes. Which is why the news,released Tuesday,that clinical trials show that an experimental vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline halved the risk of children getting malaria is both important and exciting. The malaria parasite has shown itself particularly quick to adapt to various drugs used in treating the disease; quinine,that old standby,is no longer effective,and artemisinin-based drugs,too,are losing potency. Since moderating the severity of the illness is tough,the only possibility appears to be to moderate its spread; hence the double importance of the elusive malaria vaccine. The human impact of malaria is huge. In some parts of Africa,a child dies every 45 seconds of the disease. South Asia is little better,and has been conspicuously slow in fighting the disease. In India,the mere availability of a vaccine will not be enough: as a report released last week from the WHO explains,the system here is failing,when compared to equivalent countries. The report points out that the scale of preventive interventions appears to be limited in India and Nepal,with coverage of less than 30 per cent of the population at high risk. Indeed,80 per cent of Indians are deemed at risk,significantly higher than others in South and Southeast Asia. The WHO estimates the disease costs high-incidence countries around 1.3 percentage points of growth every year. Chronic malaria induces anaemia,and life-long cognitive troubles; drops the struggling down into poverty,because of repeated healthcare costs; and makes migration,the engine of development,problematic. Anything that eases the task of fighting this scourge is to be welcomed.
