BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- About 35 percent of
the world population, meaning 2.37 billion people, are at risk from malaria, one
of the world's deadliest diseases, as the first global spatial distribution map,
published Tuesday, showed.
"We were very surprised to find a significant number
of people were facing a much lower risk than was previously thought," said Simon
Hay, one of the authors from the University of Oxford.
The Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), a collaboration
between the Kenyan Medical Research Institute and the University of Oxford,
funded by the Wellcome Trust, collected information including nationally
reported data on malaria cases, travel advisories, and surveys in several
thousand communities across 87 countries.
Researchers constructed the map which also provides
an estimate of the number of people who are living in areas where malaria
transmission is low, and where it should be possible to use existing control
strategies to eliminate the parasite.
"The situation isn't quite as dire for large parts of
the planet as people had imagined and, with some concerted effort, we could make
very big inroads with the tools that we've got," Hay said.
"If mosquitoes don't get enough chances to bite, the
transmission cycle wanes and disappears. In these very low transmission areas,
you just need to push the disease a little bit and it should collapse," Hay
added.
The project also highlights potential problems facing
countries currently aiming to eliminate malaria.
For example, Saudi Arabia is currently providing
substantial financial support for the elimination of malaria in its neighbour,
Yemen. However, the new research shows how high rates of population inflow from
Somalia will pose a continued concern due to the potential reintroduction of the
parasite.
Authors have published their research online in an
open access journal, to guarantee global availability and facilitate ongoing
updates, by the open access release of the maps via their website, as new data
become available.
(Agencies)
