Ebola in West Africa hampering fight against malaria

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Sun, 2014-12-28 21:05 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS by By Michelle Faul Dec. 29, 2014

GUECKEDOU, Guinea – West Africa’s fight to contain Ebola has hampered the campaign against malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than the dreaded virus.

Woman in the Guinean village of Meliandou, above, near the area considered to be Ebola's ground zero. The fight against Ebola in West Africa is holding back efforts to prevent and treat malaria. Jerome Delay / AP Photo

In Gueckedou, near the village where Ebola first started killing people in Guinea’s tropical southern forests a year ago, doctors say they have had to stop pricking fingers to do blood tests for malaria.

Guinea’s drop in reported malaria cases this year by as much as 40 per cent is not good news, said Dr. Bernard Nahlen, deputy director of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. He said the decrease is likely because people are too scared to go to health facilities and are not getting treated for malaria.

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http://globalnews.ca/news/1745827/ebola-in-west-africa-hampering-fight-against-malaria/

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