Global Malaria News

Last night, 83 beauties from around the world competed for the Miss Universe title and 5.8 million American viewers tuned in to watch, showing how immensely popular beauty pageants can be.

In Tanzania, young women are getting ready to compete in their own popular beauty pageant — Miss Tanzania 2010. This year, the competition, whose motto is “beauty with a purpose,” is spotlighting malaria and the Zinduka! Malaria Haikubaliki campaign as one of its key social causes.

In addition to featuring the Zinduka! campaign’s message of malaria protection during the September 11th final competition, the Miss Tanzania pageant will also incorporate Zinduka! across its month-long activities.

Zinduka! Goodwill Ambassador Mwasiti is currently in Arusha, a Northern region in the country, with contestants and briefing them on the malaria prevention, testing and treatment. While there, she and the contestants plan to visit a local hospital and speak to malaria patients and doctors. Other scheduled events include malaria awareness and community outreach in Dar es Salaam and a televised Miss Tanzania “Boot Camp” that will spotlight malaria prevention.

The beauty pageant will culminate on September 11th with a live, televised event that will feature a crowned winner and a finalist being named as a new Zinduka! Goodwill Ambassador. The new ambassador will help fulfill the pageant’s mission of “beauty with a purpose” by promoting malaria prevention, testing and treatment across the country.

The Miss Tanzania beauty pageant is organized by Lino International Agency and sponsored by Vodacom Tanzania, a leading telecommunications company in the country, and a partner of the Zinduka! Malaria Haikubaliki Campaign.

A regional workshop on fight against malaria and major endemic diseases, designed for National Network of Journalists, is set to start Tuesday in Lubango City, Huíla Province, ANGOP learned from a local source. (Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria)

Screening Mosquito House Entry Points could reduce EndophagicFilariasis, arbovirus and malaria vectors, a Tanzanian new study reveals. (Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria)

The Associated Press reports on a recent effort to use text messages to track the authenticity of antimalarials in Africa, where "more than 30 percent of malaria medicines are estimated to be fake." The project, known as mPedigree, "assigns a unique code to genuine malaria medicines, printed on the back of medicine blister packs" that consumers can then text to a "central hotline" to verify the quality of the drugs, the news service writes. The central hotline can tell the consumer if the drug is registered and, if so, when it expires... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

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Health professionals offered lecture at the meeting during which they stressed the need to cover up mosquito breeding spots and promote environmental sanitation. (Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria)

Abstract: Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum are responsible for 95% of malaria infections. P. vivax has the widest distribution and is thought to be responsible for 80% of the infections throughout the tropics, subtropics, and temperate zones. As early as 2004, a fifth malaria species had been implicated in human disease. Plasmodium knowlesi, a malaria parasite of long-tailed macaque monkeys, has been confirmed in a number of human cases from Malaysian Borneo, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines. It is now well established that P. knowlesi is emerging as an important zoonotic human pathogen. Malaria is considered to be immediately life-threatening, and a patient with the diagnosis of P. falciparum or P. knowlesi malaria should be considered a medical emergency because the ...

According to a recent article, Sesame Street is moving back to Nigeria this fall, where it’s called Sesame Square. And Cookie Monster’s been replaced with Kami, who is HIV positive, and Zobi, who teaches malaria prevention.

In Nigeria, the show is renamed “Sesame Square” to more closely resemble the neighborhoods of the country, and the lead Muppet’s, Kami and Zobi, are teaching life lessons that are relevant to the people of Nigeria: AIDS, malaria nets, gender equality — and yams, a staple of Nigerian meals.

Lead muppet Kami is an orphan with HIV who explains blood safety to children, while her friend Zobi gets entangled in a mosquito net while explaining malaria prevention.

In Tanzania, MNM’s Zinduka! campaign has partnered with Kilimani Sesame to distribute malaria-themed books to all primary schools in the country. The colorful, entertaining books will feature popular Kilimani Sesame characters who stress the importance of practicing malaria prevention at home.

While the National Medical Stores (NMS) cannot supply enough malaria drugs to meet the needs of Ugandans, it spends billions of shillings importing huge quantities of less needed drugs which end up expiring, the Auditor General's investigation has revealed. (Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria)

The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) on Friday organised a day's sensitisation workshop for journalists on malaria control and prevention at the NMCP head office in Kanifing. (Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria)

For Africans wondering whether the malaria drugs they've bought are real, there may soon be a quick way of finding out: sending a text message. (Source: WDSU.com - Health)

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A naturally occurring virus in mosquitoes may serve as a "late-life-acting" insecticide by killing older adult mosquitoes that are responsible for the bulk of malaria transmission. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)

For Africans wondering whether the malaria drugs they've bought are real, there may soon be a quick way of finding out: sending a text message. (Source: CTV Health)

Today is World Mosquito Day and actress Elizabeth Banks has teamed up with MNM to announce “Mosquitoes Suck!”

“I was lucky, I had so many dreams as a kid,” says actress Elizabeth Banks. “Malaria robs more children of their dreams than any single disease in Africa. Yet, you can help change that with a $10 mosquito net.”

Elizabeth has been taking part in a series of PSAs due out this fall for MNM. In concert with the PSAs and World Mosquito Day today, we’re launching Mosquitoes Suck shirts for just $20 – $10 of every shirt sale will come back to us to help buy a anti-malarial mosquito net for someone that needs one.

Join Elizabeth and help us honor World Mosquito Day by announcing Mosquitoes Suck! Get your shirt and match the The 40 Year Old Virgin actress today: http://www.bustedtees.com/malarianomore

A new study reveals that the oil and gas industry supply chain - which includes oil companies, contractors and sub-contractors - does not perceive the full extent of the risks that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria pose to its workforce, productivity and profitability... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

LONDON (AP) — For Africans wondering whether the malaria drugs they've bought are real, there may soon be a quick way of finding out: sending a text message. Across the continent, more than 30 percent of malaria medicines are estimated to be fake,... (Source: OrlandoSentinel: Medical Research)

(American Society for Microbiology) The following are tips from the journals of the American Society for Microbiology: "New Compound May be Effective Against Chagas' Disease"; "Virus May Act as "Evolution-Proof" Biopesticide Against Malaria"; and "Avian Influenza Virus May Persist on Feathers Fallen from Domestic Ducks." (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)

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Almost 40% of “anxious” people have an actual fallRelated items from OnMedicaSlow walkers at increased risk of cardiovascular deathElderly patients often receive undignified care Delinquency in childhood linked to premature adult deathGPs should promote occupational therapy & physical activityAfricans in the UK most likely to acquire malaria (Source: OnMedica Latest News)

Editor's note: This story is part of a series of online exclusives about natural phenomena and human endeavors we'd like to see come to an end. They are connected with the September 2010 special issue of Scientific American called " The End ".

Mosquitoes that carry the Plasmodium parasite cause some 300 million cases of malaria every year, claiming one million lives. That's a lot of carnage generated by an insect smaller than a pinky fingernail--but if enterprising researchers have their way, their blood-thirsty assault won't continue much longer. Here are some of the most promising strategies for wiping out malaria-carrying mosquitoes:

[More]



Malaria - Plasmodium - Mosquito - Health - Infectious Diseases

Editor's note: This story is part of a series of online exclusives about natural phenomena and human endeavors we'd like to see come to an end. They are connected with the September 2010 special issue of Scientific American called " The End ".

Mosquitoes that carry the Plasmodium parasite cause some 300 million cases of malaria every year, claiming one million lives. That's a lot of carnage generated by an insect smaller than a pinky fingernail--but if enterprising researchers have their way, their blood-thirsty assault won't continue much longer. Here are some of the most promising strategies for wiping out malaria-carrying mosquitoes:

[More]



Malaria - Plasmodium - Mosquito - Health - Infectious Diseases

Global Post Examines How Global Fund Impacts HIV Care, Human Rights In El Salvador Global Post examines how the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is impacting HIV/AIDS care and human rights in El Salvador. The article profiles Carla, a Salvadorian transvestite who tested positive for HIV in jail and was able to receive anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment through a program supported by the Global Fund, which the article calls a "revolutionary model." "To avoid corruption, the aid money is not simply handed over... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)