Description:
The deadliest animal in the world to humans isn’t sharks, bears, wolves, or snakes … it’s the mosquito. In this episode of MSF Pulse we look at how malaria is spread and what we’re doing to fight one of the world’s deadliest diseases.

Script:
Right now, our teams are on the ground fighting against one of the world's deadliest diseases...

In some parts of the world, the change of seasons brings along a massive influx of malaria cases.

But what exactly is Malaria and how does it spread?

[AROLL]

Malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted to humans by the deadliest animal: mosquitoes

[In 2016, there were an estimated 216 million cases of malaria in 91 countries]

Malaria causes flu-like symptoms that can eventually develop into severe vomiting, convulsions, coma and possibly even death.

Earlier this year in Angola, so many people were infected with malaria that the region’s hospitals simply couldn’t cope.

[ Huambo province hospitals were receiving around about 400 new patients a week ]

Doctors Without Borders responded by sending medical teams to the region to help expand the capacity of local hospitals.

Since then, our teams have treated more than 3,000 patients with severe malaria.

[ Nearly all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa; 70% of them are children]

But unfortunately, this epidemic in Angola is not an isolated event; children in many parts of Africa are still at big risk of dying from malaria.

[ Nearly half a million people still die from malaria every year.]

The good news is, malaria doesn’t have to be a death sentence; it's preventable and it's treatable.

Insecticide spraying can drastically cut down the risk of infection and anti-malarial drugs do exist.

Sadly, for the people who live in places with little to no access to healthcare, treatment often remains out of reach.

By providing treatment and prevention in areas without access to adequate medical care we can help stop the spread of this killer disease and we can save lives.

To learn how you can help us in the fight against malaria please follow the link in the video description.

Keywords:
disease, Malaria, mosquito, infection, symptoms of Malaria, death, Angola, Sub-Saharan Africa, preventable, treatable, insecticide spraying, access to treatment and care