I’m sick of hearing about Cheryl fecking Cole-#endmalaria
Suze wrote about breast Cancer and celebrities which got me thinking and I wonder whether @mariahappy sent that TWEET with similar sentiments.
I read somewhere that malaria is a poor man’s disease, evidently not as Cole is not short of a penny or two.
My questions -
- Why is it that when celebrities contract malaria it is headline news for days on end?
- Clearly malaria like other illnesses are non discriminatory- will more be done to find a cure/vaccine now that we know Malaria is not consigned to the poor?
I don’t know the answers to the above questions but all I know is something must be done about malaria.
Whilst writing this I got a phone call from a family member who asked me what I was doing. Oh I am writing a blog about malaria, have you got a view.
Malaria kills economic development and I tell you what else – mosquitoes are a form of unwanted birth control
Oh? I can understand the knock on effect of malaria on economic development but I am not quite sure I understand the point about birth control
don’t you get you get it? A man can’t continue making love to a woman if he is bitten by a mosquito whilst at it!
Ah, Ok I can see that now and with that the topic was changed promptly
You are at this point invited to share your views here.
About IdaHornerFounder of Ethnic Supplies a social enterprise working to alleviate poverty amongst East African women involved in textile and handicraft production. Managing Editor of Africa on the blog
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17 Responses to I’m sick of hearing about Cheryl fecking Cole-#endmalaria
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The comment about malaria being about birth control made me smile [briefly]
There's a key point I'd like to mention about how preventative measures for malaria. Although I appreciate they are not full proof, surely celebrities follow basic guidelines when travelling overseas and take the prescribed tablets to avoid catching malaria.
Vaccines and medicines are available to the fortunate and the sooner they are accessible to all the better life will be for millions.
Signed Lynn – bitten by mosquito on rear, back of leg and both ankles last week and itching like mad
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I'm afraid that celebrities lives being “news” is a rant that my poor long suffering husband has to listen to on a regular basis. Having said that….anything that raises the profile of disease which threatens the lives of many on a daily basis isn't all bad – even if it is Cheryl Fecking Cole.
I think I mentioned on another post that a friend of mine had nearly died of malaria after being bitten by a bug-carrying mosquito while on a spur-of-the-moment holiday in Kenya. Her lack of immunity to it was the result of their booking one of these last-minute cheapie flights out there and not having taken the anti-malarial drugs for sufficient time before going … rather as I suspect might have been the case with “feckin' Cheryl Cole.”
I have two points to make here. One, anyone travelling to malaria-stricken parts of the world MUST plan ahead sufficiently to allow the recommended medications time to work (usually at least one week). Two, if such medications are available to Europeans and other western nations why on earth can't that knowledge be developed to help immunise residents of the malaria-stricken areas? Remember smallpox? If scientists could manage to eradicate that, why aren't they applying similar energy to the eradication of malaria? Or are they?
I would love to hear a scientist's view on that … hopefully we'll get a response on here.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
Excellent point Suze, if smallpox can be eradicated so can Malaria.
My daughter is travelling to Ghana later this year to visit a charity out there. She is, generally speaking, pretty sensible, but I have visions of her giving her medication to the children she meets out there. I do hope she realises that isn't how it works.
But it does make me question if it is so relatively easy to prevent my daughter, and other (relative to the people she will be meeting there) wealthy people such as Cheryl Cole (should she follow the guidelines) from acquiring this disease, why is it so difficult to eradicate it altogether? I assume the answer is, as ever, money, and the lives of poor people living in developing countries are clearly not considered as important as their potential tourists.
Sicekning, 'tho isn't it?
Twitter: evenbreak
Suze wrote: Remember smallpox? If scientists could manage to eradicate that, why aren't they applying similar energy to the eradication of malaria?
Because it's impossible. Smallpox could be eradicated because people who get it either die or recover and CLEAR the infection within at most a few weeks. Malaria cannot be eradicated because a high proportion of infected people develop persistent, lifelong infection so remain as a reservoir that can re-infect others.
Relatively few major infections are eradicable, even at a theoretical level. Smallpox was one, measles and polio are others.
My understanding is that Cheryl Cole was unlucky enough to catch malaria despite taking prophylaxic tablets. That's entirely possible, as these are not 100% effective.
*cancels daughter's ticket*
ooh, I sympathise re: mosquito bite hope it calms down soon. Sadly the best precaution against malaria is not to be bitten by malaria causing mosquitoes as the preventative meds may fail as I gather was the case in Mrs Cole's case
I agree from the point of view if the attention doesn't do any harm in the process
According to the author of this article the answer as to why we do not have a cure or vaccine to malaria may lie in the fact the Malaria parasite has over 5000 genes! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/7878524/Why-c…
Yes Jane money is a big part of it when you look at it from the point of view or assumption that Malaria is a poor man's disease and lately the Americans think the Brits have a knack for importing this kind of thing (according to CBNC News) so there you have it.
Welcome to the discussion, the point of view that says it is impossible to eradicate malaria sounds rather defeatist to me- I do hope I am not being simplistic in my views here. I do think that if there was enough commitment that is applied in other areas of science perhaps something would have turned up by now.
As a side issues, I understand the government's policy of not giving malaria prophylaxic tablets as a matter of course to people travelling to malaria infested areas, but do wonder how much it costs them to treat those that return with it.
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