Ebola may be getting the headlines, but malaria is actually killing more people in West Africa. Worse, the fight to end the Ebola epidemic is hampering the campaign against malaria.
In addition to siphoning off precious health resources in the area, the Ebola epidemic is making people afraid to go to health clinics for treatment against malaria. Because of the fear of spreading the Ebola virus, health clinics are not performing blood tests for malaria, which are usually done by pricking a finger to obtain blood. Exposure to blood is one of the ways that Ebola is spread. The World Health Organization advises healthcare workers not to test for malaria unless they are wearing protective gear.
Even what looks like good news may not be. The number of reported cases of malaria in Guinea has dropped by as much as 40%. But this drop is probably due to cases of malaria going undetected.
"It would be a major failure on the part of everybody involved to have a lot of people die from malaria in the midst of the Ebola epidemic," said Dr. Bernard Nahlen, deputy director of the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative in an interview with the Associated Press.
Guinea has very few health resources. Half of its 12 million people have no access to health centers. Last year, around 15,000 people in Guinea died from malaria, with all but 1,000 being children. According to the World Health Organization, only 1,600 have died in Guinea this year from Ebola.
Malaria is spread by mosquito bites. The symptoms for both Ebola and malaria are similar. They include fever, dizziness, headache, and muscle aches.
One way to stop the spread of malaria is to use mosquito netting that has been treated with insecticide around beds. In Liberia, officials have suspended the distribution of two million treated mosquito nets.