This is a map that shows the presence of malaria in the world. Approximately 300,000,000 people contract malaria annually with 1 million of these people dying. Caused by the bacteria Plasmodium falciparum, this disease has killed more people than AIDS. The effects of Bird flu are chicken feed compared to Malaria.

As you will see from the map the areas of the world most affected are sub-saharan Africa, the Amazon basin in South America, the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia. These areas are particularly poor and there is limited access to anti-malarial treatments for sufferers in these areas. Fortunately The Institute for One World Health, the worlds first non-profit drug company is well down the track to developing a near free anti-malarial drug that will be made available in these areas of the world. This is possible, in part, because of a donation of a $42.6 Million Five-Year Grant from Gates Foundation. (Some of the cost of your copy of Microsoft Windows being put to good use.)

The US government also spends a considerable sum on Malaria through a NGO called US Agency for International Development (USAID). In 2005 USAID received US$90m dollars for malaria prevention programs. Disappointingly, Nature reported that the agency spent just 5% of its 2004 funds on commodities such as bednets, drugs and insecticides, and 13% on vaccine research. The remainder was spent on items such as meetings and consultancy fees. That is not to say that all of this money was wasted some of the consultancies were for technical assistance for local communities which is valuable but the imbalance between these more esoteric costs and those incurred directly fighting malarial infections is concerning.

It is important to recognise that this is a treatment for the disease and not an elimination of the cause and it is interesting to speculate on the possibility of eliminating malaria in a similar way to smallpox. Certainly it would eliminate much suffering in the world but it would have one consequence that may be catastrophic for the environment. The Amazon basis has been described as "the lungs of the world" and the African jungle is home to countless rare and precious species. The elimination of malaria in these areas would inevitably see a rapid increase in the devastation of these precious wildernesses. Perhaps the presence of malaria is not a totally bad thing afterall.