The Anopheles gambiae mosquito is a known vector of malaria. Photo by James Gathany/CDC
A few days after World TB Day last month, I wrote about health journalists’ need to give tuberculosis coverage its due. Now, it’s time to think about the other major killer in global infectious disease (besides COVID-19) — malaria.
World Malaria Day is April 25, and while I’m not a big fan of these artificial news pegs, they are a great opportunity to bone up on the basics about diseases and find out what advances have occurred, what challenges remain, and what the future looks like so you can plan future coverage.
The toll of malaria deaths is a little less than half that of TB, but 608,000 deaths is still substantial. That’s more than a half million deaths of more than 249 million cases every year, and eight of every 10 of those deaths are children under 5 years old. The disease has also been called a “ticking time bomb” because of growing resistance to antimalarial drugs.
But the good news is that the world has been making progress on reducing the morbidity and mortality burdens of malaria through malaria vaccination.
As our world gets smaller and climate change becomes less predictable, it’s important for your readership to be aware of the threat of malaria locally and globally.
Here are some tips to get you started:
Vaccination against malaria is a relatively recent tool in fighting the disease, with the second malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, only recommended a few months ago by the WHO. The first malaria vaccine, RTS,S, was approved in 2021. How effective are these vaccines, what impact are they having, what are the barriers to their distribution, and what other vaccine initiatives are in the works?
It’s a classic strategy, but for good reason: Check out malaria coverage of the past year in local and national outlets and then follow up to see what’s happened since in those stories. Often, reporters aren’t able to follow up on their previous work, so that’s an opportunity to advance the story.
Localize it when you can. Malaria may not be endemic in the U.S., but that doesn’t mean someone in your readership’s region hasn’t contracted it, even if it was while traveling overseas. The U.S. has somewhere between 2,000 to 2,500 cases a year, so there’s a good chance someone in your region has had it if you can find them (Having or developing a good relationship with your local public health authority and nearby infectious disease experts and travel clinics may help.).
Look for the wins. Journalists are so used to looking for the problems that it’s easy to forget the progress we’ve made, and it’s progress that provides hope and often impetus to continue on. For example, the country of Cabo Verde in Africa became the 43rd country certified as malaria-free earlier this year. Another “win” was the recent news that mosquito nets prevented 13 million cases in pilot programs between 2019 and 2022.
What’s being done near you to fight malaria? Are there universities, private companies, or researchers in your area working on vaccines, therapeutics, or non-pharmaceutical interventions to halt malaria’s spread and effects?
A quick-and-easy news-you-can-use service story could look at which countries have endemic malaria and what travelers to those countries need to do to protect themselves. Not all antimalarials will work against all malaria types, for example, and it can be helpful to give people a comparison of the anti-malarials available.
Tara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader on infectious disease and formerly led the medical studies health beat. She’s the author of “Vaccination Investigation” and “The Informed Parent.”
