Malaria control programs in Amazonian Peru helped reduce the incidence of the deadly parasitic disease by 78%.
Malaria control programs in Amazonian Peru helped reduce the incidence of the deadly parasitic disease by 78%. That is, until the programs ceased to operate.
Within four years of the programs being de-funded, malaria rates where right back where they started, according to a study appearing online in the April edition of The Lancet Regional Health Americas.
The rebound in malaria was driven not only by the removal of prevention programs, but also by climate change, the authors said. Average temperatures in Peru have risen a half-degree Centigrade in the last 20 years and higher minimum temperatures and more intense rainfalls with flooding were shown to drive the resurgence of the mosquito-borne disease.
The Project for Malaria Control in Andean Border Areas (PAMAFRO) operated from 2006 to 2011 with support from the Global Fund, resulting in sustained and significant reductions in malaria incidence across the Loreto district of Peru.
Read more at Duke University
Image: Duke environmental health researcher William Pan, at right, talks with Peruvians about malaria control and prevention. (Credit: Duke University Photo)
