Venezuela malaria epidemic: Malaria spreads to EMERGENCY levels with ‘largest surge'
VENEZUELA remains embroiled in a major political upheaval as Juan Guaido declares a “final phase of operation” to oust incumbent president Nicolas Maduro from presidency. While politicians hash it out, much of the country’s population is under threat from a major malaria outbreak.
Venezuela: Juan Guaido calls for military coup against Maduro
Juan Guaido, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly declared today he was “beginning the final phase of Operation Freedom”. Surrounded by men in military fatigues, he called on mass action from the public to help oust Nicolas Maduro from power. However, a different battle rages on in Venezuela’s population which is still gripped by major power outages and poverty. Venezuela’s health system and economy have collapsed, leaving many people struggling from an explosion of malaria cases.
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According to the World Health Organisation from 2010 to 2017, cases of malaria in Venezuela increased ninefold.
This was the highest growth rate of malaria found anywhere in the World.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 70 percent of Malaria cases are concentrated in 11 countries.
One of these countries is India, and the other 10 are all in Africa.
But the shocking levels of malaria in Venezuela trumped growth in all of these major countries.
Venezuela once led efforts in eliminating Malaria some 50 years ago.
The malaria rate in Venezuela pushed up the disease rate for the Americas as a whole.
WHO data revealed malaria in the country counted for more than half of all cases in the region.
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Neighbouring Brazil - with a population seven times larger than Venezuela - counted for just a fifth of overall incidence in the Americas.
Martin Llewellyn, a senior lecturer in comparative medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the rapid increase of the disease is driven by the country’s poverty.
He said people are driven into malarial regions of Venezuela in search of work in illegal mines.
In addition, the professor said none of these people are adequately protected from mosquitos.
He compared the desperate situation to war-ravaged Syria and South Sudan.
Professor Llewellyn said: “These people are living rough with no protection from mosquitoes.
“They’re becoming heavily infected, they’re not treated and then they’re travelling back into the rest of Venezuela so malaria is spreading around.
“Venezuela is a rich country - it’s not a conflict zone.”
