Malaria: a historical, eminent and persistent problem

Abstract

The sub-Saharan Africa region concentrates more than 90% of notifications of malaria infections. However, the disease is not concentrated only in the African continent, being endemic even in the Amazon region of Brazil. Thus, it is imperative that there are effective actions to mitigate and eradicate the disease. In this sense, a bibliometric analysis was carried out to address current facts related to the characterization of the parasite, vector control, disease diagnosis and treatment of patients. The results indicate that methods for vector control, although effective, are not available for the entire population of endemic countries and their effectiveness has been circumvented by the vector over time. Chemical treatments with antimalarials also suffer from acquired resistance by the pathogen. Furthermore, the most current therapy is the developed and tested anti-malarial vaccine, with results that proved to be viable in economic and public health terms. In view of the high number of deaths caused by malaria, especially in children living in areas of high contagion, the World Health Organization has started to recommend the use of this resource, which could save thousands of lives every year.