PRINT MEDIA IN THE PROMOTION OF THE ROLL BACK MALARIA CAMPAIGN
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic
DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE PROJECT MATERIAL
PRINT MEDIA IN THE PROMOTION OF THE ROLL BACK MALARIA CAMPAIGN
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects people and other animals. It is caused by parasite protozoans of the plasmodium type. Malaria symptoms usually include fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches.
In severe situations, it might result in yellow skin, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually appear ten to fifteen days following the bite. If not treated properly, people may experience recurrences of the disease months later.
Reinfection typically produces milder symptoms in persons who have recently recovered from an infection. If the person is not exposed to malaria on a regular basis for months or years, this partial resistance fades.
The disease is mostly transmitted by an infected female Anopheles mosquito. A mosquito bite delivers parasites from the mosquito’s saliva into a person’s blood (Beare, 2011). The parasites move to the liver, where they mature and multiply.
Humans are capable of infecting and spreading five Plasmodium species. P. falciparum is responsible for the majority of deaths, as P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae induce a milder form of malaria (Hartman, 2010). P. knowlesi rarely causes sickness in people.
Malaria is often diagnosed through microscopic analysis of blood utilising blood films or antigen-based fast diagnostic assays. Methods for detecting the parasite’s DNA using the polymerase chain reaction have been developed, but they are not frequently employed in malaria-endemic areas due to their high cost and complexity (Collins, 2012).
According to Aguwa (2009.p.33), malaria kills a child somewhere in the world every minute. Every year, it infects roughly 219 million individuals (range 154 to 289 million), resulting in an estimated 660,000 deaths, the majority of which are children in Africa.
Malaria kills 90% of children in Africa, accounting for around one out of every six deaths. The condition also significantly contributes to anaemia in children, which is a key cause of poor growth and development. (Abou Zahr, 2009).
In 1998, the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Bank, United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) conceived and collaborated to launch the Roll Back Malaria movement, with the welcome and necessary goal of halving malaria deaths by 2010 – the first major effort against the disease in four decades.
The necessity for such an undertaking is abundantly clear: malaria imposes a massive burden on Sub-Saharan Africa, infecting 300 million people each year and killing one million, at least 70% of whom are children or pregnant women.
The Roll Back Malaria campaign was launched to advocate an effective disease control strategy. This emphasises quick clinical case diagnosis and treatment, the use of insecticide-treated bednets, malaria management during pregnancy, and targeted malaria transmission control in emergency or epidemic scenarios.
RBM’s goal is to increase the use of these interventions in all malaria-endemic countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 90% of malaria deaths (Umechukwu, 2004).
Despite 50 years of global malaria control experience, more people are dying from malaria today than when such programs first began. Gro Harlem Brundtland declared on May 13, 1998, that one of her goals as director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is a new initiative to “Roll Back Malaria.”
The objective is to address malaria in a novel way. The primary focus will be on improving health services so that effective treatment and preventative techniques are available to everyone who require them.
Roll Back Malaria is not another attempt to eradicate the illness; rather, the goal is to halve malaria-related death by 2010 and again by 2015. It will not be a distinct body “bolted on” to existing health services, but rather will incorporate and strengthen all malaria-related efforts across the health sector.
It is not built solely on new techniques; rather, it will make better use of existing tools, drawing on prior experiences—both successes and mistakes. It is more than just an ambitious public health project; it may also begin to break down the artificial barriers that have arisen between disease control specialists and health systems specialists.
The print media provides cultural, political, health, and other educational and enlightenment programs to the masses, guiding them towards self-actualization and national progress (Ellinas, 2010). Print media is a form of communication that allows people to share their experiences both within and outside of their local surroundings.
The print media informs citizens about emerging issues in society. For example, concerns concerning health, politics, business, current events, and so on are broadcast to raise awareness.
The media acts as a social mobilisation agent, motivating individuals to achieve a specific objective based on their awareness of their rights and societal responsibilities.
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic