WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) has released a new special report, “Mosquito-Driven Scourge Touches Even Developed Nations,” in coordination with the international observance of World Malaria Day on April 25.

You may wonder why we should be concerned about malaria while the world is trying to stave off the novel Coronavirus. The Coronavirus seems to be everywhere. Cases have been reported in 210 countries and territories. Public health organizations are working diligently to implement effective methods to slow and prevent its spread until a vaccine and a cure can be found.

Deadly

The reason that malaria still demands our attention is found in the special report’s subtitle, “Malaria Alone Claims 400,000 Lives Per Year.” Every year. As we approach the end of April 2020, the death toll from COVID-19 has yet to reach even half that number.

The Gospel for Asia (GFA) report quotes Professor Kathleen Neuzil, an authority on malaria, as saying,

“Malaria is a leading killer worldwide, impacting millions of people each year. While we continue to work on developing vaccines and other treatments, it is critical that patients everywhere have access to the regimens needed to combat this disease.”

Other than treating COVID-19 patients, the focus has been on containment, because officials are not yet certain how the virus is spread.

Preventable

Ironically, the most effective mean of protection against the scourge of malaria is also containment. Malaria is a vector-borne disease. That’s a highfalutin way of saying that malaria is spread by mosquitos. Highfalutin is an old-fashioned word describing a pretentious way of saying something that could be understood in simpler terms.

Oddly enough, the special report points out that the most effective method of preventing contracting malaria is also “old-fashioned.” Mosquito nets.

Families in malaria-prone areas are best protected by isolating in place in their homes at night under a mosquito net.

Netting does not eliminate the source of malaria, but it does eliminate its spread. Ultimately, that is the primary concern of each man, woman, and child who lives in the 10/40 Window and other areas where malaria is prevalent.

Proven

We encourage readers to learn more by reading GFA’s special report.

Learn how Gospel for Asia (GFA) has distributed literally hundreds of thousands of mosquito nets each year. In 2018 alone, Gospel for Asia (GFA) gave out 360,000 treated nets. They distributed around 600,000 in 2016. That’s nearly a million mosquito nets in just those two years.

Learn from recipients how important the free gift of a mosquito net means to them. They already know what a precious gift a mosquito net is. Perhaps, “enduringly effective” is a better description than “old-fashioned.”

Persistent

Unfortunately, there is no real end in sight to either eliminate or eradicate malaria. In fact, we should understand those terms if we are to comprehend how difficult the battle against the disease really is.

The World Health Organization explicitly defines elimination as “the interruption of local transmission of a specified malaria parasite species in a defined geographic area.”

They define eradication as “the permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of malaria infection caused by all species of human malaria parasites.”

The Lancet publication on “Malaria eradication: is it possible? Is it worth it? Should we do it?” projects a possibility of eradication no earlier than the decade following 2050. They hypothesize that “The last battles will likely be waged in wet, tropical, and poor areas.” Areas like those where Gospel for Asia (GFA) serves.

If the Gospel for Asia (GFA) special report about the scourge of malaria has aroused your interest, you may wish to learn more about what the organization has done to help prevent the spread of malaria in South Asia. GFA has more than 180 informative articles on the subject on its website.

Read more news on Malaria and the Coronavirus Crisis on Missions Box.

Read the Special Report on Malaria Alone Claims 400,000 Lives Per Year: Mosquito-Driven Scourge Touches Even Developed Nations.

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus