MALARIA
Abstract
This comprehensive Review Article explores the global burden, diagnostic complexity, therapeutic strategies, and public health challenges of malaria, a preventable but deadly parasitic disease affecting nearly half the world’s population. In 2023 alone, 263 million cases and almost 600,000 deaths were recorded, with sub-Saharan Africa carrying the heaviest burden. The article covers the life cycle of Plasmodium parasites, including liver hypnozoite stages and red blood cell invasion, clinical features of both uncomplicated and severe malaria, and risks during pregnancy. It emphasizes the emergence of artemisinin resistance, reduced accuracy of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) due to genetic deletions in P. falciparum, and the persistent threat of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes. Updated treatment protocols including intravenous artesunate, ACTs, and relapse prevention with primaquine/tafenoquine are detailed. New advances such as malaria vaccines (RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M) and monoclonal antibodies are promising, but the article highlights persistent gaps in prevention, diagnostics, and equitable care access. The authors call for a dynamic One Health approach encompassing environmental, human, and veterinary sectors to reach global malaria control and elimination goals
Keywords:
malaria
Plasmodium falciparum
artemisinin resistance
chemoprophylaxis
rapid diagnostic tests
severe malaria
vector control
vaccines
P. vivax
mosquito adaptation
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