Enhancing Public Health Conditions in Kenya: Fight Against Malaria

The residents of Africa are suffering from preventable, treatable, and fatal diseases everyday at a higher rate compared to developed countries. The healthcare crisis in Africa is the primary cause of all these deaths, and includes inefficient healthcare systems. Consequently, African's inefficient healthcare systems results in poor delivery of care and a shortage of health professionals. The healthcare crisis in Africa is a current issue impacting the lives of many African's who don't have the same access to resources as developed countries such as the United States. These resources can save the lives of many African's dying of preventable and curable disease, and understanding why the African continent has little access to them

Background - Malaria is a water borne disease. It is spread by a parasite-carrying mosquito. It kills many people and reduces a country 's capacity to develop. There are different strategies to combat malaria. Around half the population is at risk of malaria and this disease is active in 106 counties across Africa, Asian and the Americas (see source 3). the global annual mortality from malaria is between 1.5 - 3 million deaths, or between 4000 and 8000 each day. Developing countries are most vulnerable to Malaria and as shown on source 2 Malaria has been spread across many various other countries including in Europe, but these countries have eradicated Malaria.

The role of hemagglutinin (HA) , which is one of the abundant & immunodominant glycoprotein on the surface of the influenza virus ,is very important as an immunogen in anti-influenza vaccines (Gamblin & Skehel.,2010). HA is a major glycoprotein in the viral lipid envelope membrane with a distal globular head that mediates host-cell receptor binding followed by a membrane-proximal stalk domain which directs fusion of viral envelope with the host cell(Kaminski &Lee ,2011). The current split-virus vaccines predominantly induce antibodies to the surface glycoprotein like HA ,NA . Due to antigenic drift ,the surface glycoproteins undergo mutations, therefore the three influenza strains are included in seasonal IIV (influenza A(H1N1) and A(H3N2) and influenza B) which are evaluated for their ability to generate neutralizing antibodies against the circulating influenza strains (Waffarn E. & Baumgarth N.,2011). . After vaccination with inactivated Influenza vaccine , it results in both local and systemic responses generation. .Within 2 weeks of vaccination, 90% of vaccines found to have protective antibody titres (Cox RJ.1994) .In humans, hemagglutinin specific effector T-cells are found to be major proliferating subsets of T-cells which are seen after stimulation by HA molecule (Novak et al 1999).

William Faulkner was born September 25, 1897, in Oxford, Mississippi. After living there for most of his life, he later moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was a writer in the residence at the University of Virginia. Faulkner published 19 novels and more than 75 short stories between 1926 and 1962. Faulkner is known best for some of his ground breaking novels: The Sound and the Fury; As I Lay Dying; Light in August; Absalom, Absalom! and Go Down, Moses. Like the novels, the majority of Faulkner’s stories were set in the South. Particularly in Yoknapatawpha County, there he invented fictional black and white characters. His major fictional families include the Sartoris, Snopes, De Spain, Compson, Sutpen, McCaslin, and Carothers (The Facts on File Companion to American Short Story). The characters appeared multiple times carefully outlining their family histories throughout Faulkner’s canon. The majority of his stories were in the country he resided. He made use of myths, legends, themes, situations and characters; repeatedly experimenting with these and other techniques. Critic James G. Watson brings forth a key point by deepening the meaning in Faulkner’s short stories by stating these stories do more than entertain, they explain the world. These stories broaden our view of history, people of different regions, and overall of humanity. A significant fact about Faulkner’s story collection is that he envisioned them contrapuntally that is, he

I thoroughly enjoyed gaining great insight on how the brain works and the neuroscience of learning. The TED videos were very thought-provoking and intriguing. I appreciated the knowledge I gained on how and why our brains work the way they do and how special humans’ brains really are. The “Decision Making in the Adolescent Brain”, is another scholarly article I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It spoke about the adolescent stage of life is where they are quick to make decisions without considering the consequences. One way this unit further informed my perspective and understanding on how the brain works is by breaking down the many parts of the brain and explaining its function. I gain a deeper understanding of how each part of the brain is connected

Why is malaria becoming more prevalent in Nairobi and in the Amazonian Indian villages? (4 points)

Tropical diseases, especially malaria and tuberculosis, have long been a public health problem in Kenya. In recent years, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), also has become a severe problem. Estimates of the incidence of infection differ widely.

2.4 million people died of an AIDS-related illness in Africa, and since the beginning of

There are many barriers to good population health in Africa. In a report on public health in Africa published in 2009, Jennifer G. Cooke, the director of the CSIS Africa Program found those issues include a lack of access to care in rural areas, deficits in trained healthcare professionals, lack of preparedness to handle outbreaks, unsanitary living conditions, lack of access to healthy food and clean water, and unsafe care of the dead and dying. Cooke mentioned that there are also social issues that contribute to poor population health in Africa, with issues such as conflict and civil unrest presenting unique challenges to health access and delivery (p. 10).

Over the last two decades, HIV has materialized from an unknown virus to a pandemic of prodigious proportions. Social issues increase the risk of HIV infection, thereby creating a counterproductive environment, where combatting the global epidemic effectively is hampered. To date, millions worldwide have succumbed to the virus and currently, over 40 million people are living with HIV.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Africa is the most affected area that it has reverse expected population growth to a net decrease (Oxford Analytica Ltd). Africa is the number one countries with the highest rate of HIV and AIDS among the other fifteen countries (Patel). HIV and AIDS spread among adults, teens, and even to children who know nothing. Around 35 to 42 million people are living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and AIDS all over the world. However, about 25.5 million of the 35 to 42 million people live in Africa. So far in 2003 alone, there has been 2.2 million death in Africa (UNAIDS). With so many deaths in a year, there is more than one funeral happening on a daily basis. This paper first examines the primary root causes then the pertinent consequences of the phenomenon. It will then focus on prospects of decreasing the rapidly spread of AIDS in Africa.

According to the Malaria Vaccine Institute, almost 600 million people suffer from malaria each year, and more than one million people die from this disease every year, the most deaths come from children younger than five. Malaria is endemic in over 100 countries, around 40% of the world population. Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transferred by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The most deadly form of malaria is known as Plasmodium falciparum, almost all deaths from malaria are caused by this specific form. In addition to being the deadliest form of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum destroys red blood cells along with causing complications with the kidneys, lungs, and

Kenya is one of the four HIV ‘high burden’ countries in Africa, with about 1.5 million PLHIV at the end of 2015(Ref).The country has an estimated 71,034 new HIV infections among adults and about 6,613 new infections among children aged < 2 years annually (Ref). The epidemic is geographically diverse, with 10 out of 47 Counties accounting for 65% prevalence (MoH-Kenya, HIV Estimates 2014).

One major factor in the fight against HIV and AIDS is identifying the communities most at risk for facing a localized epidemic. As stated above, fighting an epidemic requires communities to have access to the proper preventative measures, education, and healthcare. For these reasons the disease is particularly prevalent in communities stricken with poverty, of low education, and high exposure to drugs. As of 2004, 90% of all 36.1 million known AIDS cases were reported in developing countries. For people living in these countries, protection against HIV is much more difficult due to lack of available contraceptives, little access to education, and poor healthcare. When a person infected with HIV cannot access medical treatment their infection quickly progresses into AIDS and depending on environmental factors very quickly leads to death. With this in mind, the fight against AIDS cannot be focused in just one region. Oftentimes more focus is placed on disease prevention in more developed first-world countries, but that tactic ignores a much greater problem and the unique struggles of treating epidemics in third-world nations.

Furthermore, the decline in childhood mortality in Kenya reflects the recent global trend of under-5 mortality reduction at a faster pace than at any other time in the past two decades (UNICEF, 2014). The Ministry of Health (2015) describes malaria as a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya, with more than 70 percent of the country's population at risk of infection. In Kenya, scientists have shown through studies that areas that have latitudes ranging from 0 to 1300 meters such as around Lake Victoria in western Kenya and the coastal regions have a high malaria prevalence rate and thus high under-5 mortality rate ( MOH,2015).