Sammy’s!!

“Can we watch one-quarter of some countries’ people die? Can 27 million orphans be left to fend for themselves? We may not be able to solve the entire problem today, but let not be discouraged from taking the steps necessary to begin the journey.” This is from Episcopal Church to President Bush and the US Congress, in June 2001. Ask yourself, how do you feel if you have to live in a life of fear and worry. Ethiopia has many health problems, but there is one disease that is the top health disease in Ethiopia: Malaria. About 70% of the population in Ethiopia has the malaria disease each year. This is more than a half of the actual population. By the end of 2007, there were 1,214,921 people that had malaria and it caused 991 people to die.

Most of the malaria areas are located in tropical areas. As we all know, malaria is caused by a mosquito. This kind of mosquito lives around high areas and near salty water. The female mosquito is the one that transmits this disease from one that person to another person. And because Ethiopia is located under Sahara Desert the weather is usually humid, which helps this type of mosquito live longer. In addition, disasters like drought, malnutrition, poor health, no sanitation, famine, and poverty can also cause malaria. Right now in Ethiopia, there are    50, 000 people living in malaria areas. Due to this serious problem, scientists and doctors have been working very hard and found that malaria is caused by protozoan insects that belong to genus Plasmodium, and the most dangerous of all is in genus Falciparum.

People that suffer from malaria, experience of muscle and joint pain, high fever, chills, and headaches. Sweating, dizziness, vomiting, cramps, and dry cough are also part of symptoms. If the disease becomes more serious than normal, you will realize that your energy and power are lacking, and you will find that it is more difficult to breath, and your heart beats faster than usual. When this happens, it means that the malaria virus has entered your system and now is destroying your blood vessels, which can damage your heart and you might die. There are over 9 million people, and only about 4 to 5 million of them are have proper health care and only around 20% of the children under 5 receiving treatment in a health facility.

Malaria has many effects on Ethiopia. It causes Ethiopia to be burdened by disease and social economic problems. Malaria causes human suffering and mortality. The greatest risk is when an inflect person returns to their city and transmits the disease to another person and the disease keeps continuing. For people that are age 5 and up, especially children and pregnant women, they have a high chance of receiving malaria from another person or by a mosquito. During 2001 to 2005 there were 9.5 million malaria cases each year. In 2005, there were 4.5 million families were moving away from Ethiopia. In some cases, malaria also affects students and schools. Once the malaria season starts, all students have to stay home and the schools have to stop until the season is over. Also, some companies and big buildings also stop working for safety reasons during this malaria season.

Ethiopia needs help! The country needs you!  The government needs to give free Malaria vaccinations, especially to children, pregnant woman, and to people that are living in malaria areas. If you live in another country, you can also help through the Internet, email, or contact with the government, hospitals in Ethiopia. You can donate money or equipment to build apartments so when the malaria season comes, thepeople that are in danger can be save inside the apartments until the season is over. Also we can build some mosquito nets so it can block the mosquito. Why don’t you stand up and give a hand so we a build a better country. The world will be thankful to have a person like you.