from IRIN Health experts say the majority of malaria cases in Mali are misdiagnosed, which causes resistance to malaria drugs and leaves other illnesses untreated.“When people are sick in Mali, the doctor will usually tell them they have malaria whether or not they test for it,” said Fatou Faye, an infectious diseases researcher and trainer at a privately funded medical laboratory, the Charles Merieux Centre in Bamako.“The patients then buy anti-malarial drugs in the street and build up a resistance to treatment.”As a result, according to research by Dr. Imelda Bates at the Malaria Knowledge Project (MKP), part of the Liverpool University School of Tropical Medicine, this means people miss other causes of feverish illness such as pneumonia and meningitis, which can cause further...
from Montana State UniversityBy Evelyn BoswellBOZEMAN -- Montana State University students and faculty returned to west Africa this month to join villagers who want to eradicate malaria.A$462,000 grant from the USDA-CSREES Higher Education Challenge Grant Program allowed five MSU students, two MSU faculty members, a Helena school teacher and a student at Chief Dull Knife College to spend two weeks in Mali as part of an on-going partnership with the village of Sanambele, said grant recipient and MSU entomologist Florence Dunkel.While in Sanambele, MSU senior Eva Mends is sharing her findings on the effectiveness of four native plants that the villagers use to fight malaria, Dunkel said. Mends, a Helena native majoring in biomedical sciences and French, interviewed the villagers and...
from the Voice of AmericaBy Scott StearnsPresident Bush and Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure met at the White House to discuss efforts to combat terrorism, as well as AIDS and Malaria. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Mr. Bush leaves Friday for a week-long trip to Africa. President Bush and President Toure say the United States and Mali are determined to block the spread of Islamic terrorism in Africa's Sahel region.President Bush says he is pleased with Mali's cooperation."The president and I spent a fair amount of time talking about the dangers of radicals and extremists associated with groups like al-Qaida," he said. "And we talked about the need for close cooperation to protect the innocent people from those who murder the innocent in order to achieve their...