Deforestation and Malaria - Essay Example

Deforestation and Malaria A Critical study Contents of the Report Introduction Formal Definitions: Deforestation and Malaria The Statement: Facts and Evidences Conclusion References Introduction Necessity is the mother of invention. A saying that is proved over the years many times. Each time man was in need of some thing there was a gadget or a service that made his life comfortable. A statement that could strongly challenge the one said above is "The greed of man for more things has always led to his own destruction." This desire for luxury has disturbed the chemistry between man and nature. Another important aspect is that of Health. Health happens to be the most important asset for man and that is something which is mostly neglected. These human activities that disturb the balance in nature are in some or the other way responsible for many Health related issues. In this paper focus would be on one of the activities that has an impulsive effect on natural balance, Deforestation. Along with it the paper also examines an insect vectored disease, Malaria. The paper briefly introduces both the issues and then tries to understand, from various research papers, if there is a possible inter-relation between the two. The paper is divided into three parts where the first part deals with introducing both the issues. The second part concentrates on critically examining whether there is a relation between the two issues and the third part draws conclusion from the facts and evidences from previous section. Formal Definitions: Deforestation and Malaria The phenomena of clearing forests for acquiring land for various purposes like pasture, urban usage or water logged land is known as Deforestation. (Williams M, 2006) Deforestation is the antonym of Reforestation, a practice that increases the forest area. Deforestation has a detrimental effect on the Environment. The clearing of major portions of forest cover had led to a reduced bio-diversity. This activity of removal of forest cover has a direct effect on the environment's climate and geography. The direct causes for deforestation are livestock herding and forest fires. (Williams, M, 2006) Along with it, a few indirect causes like Edge effect and habitat fragmentation also contribute for deforestation. The rate at which the amount of forest cover (both tropical rain forests and tropical dry forests) is decreasing is quite high. This is an alarming sign and directly points to possible loss of bio-diversity. Harmful effects of deforestation include reduction in amount of water in soil, moisture in atmosphere, land slides, precipitation reduction and flash flooding. (Williams, M, 2006) The only reason for all these effects is the excessive usage of resources by human beings to satisfy their desires. Deforestation on a Global scale Malaria is counted as one of the dreadful diseases as it affects around 300 million people on an average every year and consumes the lives of around 3 million people. (whqlibdoc.who.org, 2005) It is a vector borne disease caused by mosquito biting. It is quite common in tropical and sub tropical regions. A protozoan named plasmodium is responsible for this disease. (Cox F, 2002)The groups of plasmodium parasites that affect human beings are plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium ovale, plasmodium malariee and Knowles. All these are known as malarial parasites. They are transmitted into human body through female anopheles mosquito. Whenever they bite human beings, this parasite is injected into the body and it eats the red blood cells causing nausea, fever, illness and in severe cases coma and death. Symptoms of this disease include shivering, joint pains, vomiting and fever. (Cox F 2002) The breeding place for mosquitoes is water logging areas. Areas where the temperature is quite high and water is stagnated for a long period of time, the spreading of this disease is common. Mosquito repellents and mosquito nets can be used to get protection from this disease. Also certain insecticides help a great deal. Plasmodium: The Protozoan for malaria The Life cycle for the micro Organism growth The Statement: Facts and Evidences: Deforestation and the disease malaria are closely associated. It has been a common observation that the malaria spreading rate in various deforested areas is rising. Areas affected with this disease are experiencing high deforestation rates. According to Wilson, (Wilson, 2001) without studying the life cycle pattern of the parasitic micro organism and the related ecological factors, control of this disease would be inadequate. Each environmental change brings up a change in the ecological balance that directly affects the hosts or vectors and parasites to transmit diseases. According to smith, (smith, 1999) 70-90% malarial infection is due to the Environmental factors. Especially the vector borne diseases are dependent on the environmental factors like precipitation; temperature affect the breeding of carriers, Deforestation also has an impact on vectorial capacity. Deforestation has a direct impact over the disease vectors and its options for hosts. Thickly covered forest areas are shady and the organic matter present absorbs the water that reduces its Ph value and makes it more acidic. Thereby the mosquito breeding becomes less. However, lands are open and prone to heavy temperature. They have puddles with neutral Ph value that favors Larve growth. (Patz, 2000) Climatic changes are possible with deforestation and it contributes to spreading this disease by rising ground temperatures. High temperatures contribute to the rate of mosquito growth and also the rate at which parasites are acquired. (Walsh, 1993) Deforestation leads to lands being used for a variety of purposes that include Network Irrigations, canals and road construction etc. Livestock can affect the vectorial capacity (Wilson, 2001) Migration due to deforestation is also a cause for the spread of Malaria. This is seen is Brazilian Amazon migrants who had a lower natural immunity. The underlying malarial infection stayed in their body and it spread across all the regions where the migrants moved. (Wilson, 2001) The change in Ecosystem due to deforestation effects on temperature and climate that can be vital for the vector habitats. (Wilson, 2001) It has also been noticed that due to Ecosystem changes such as deforestation the plasmodium species have developed antibiotic resistance. (Wilson, 2001) Conclusion: With all the above put evidences it is very clear that the human activity Deforestation and the Vector borne disease Malaria are very closely related. Human greed for more resources has never come to an end and all these increased disease rates are the by-products of it. The importance of Ecological balance has to be understood and Reforestation activity has to gain more pace if these diseases have to be checked. It's not only important that we live a luxurious life extracting everything from the nature but it's equally essential that we live a long, peaceful and healthy life. Nature provides us with all comforts that can make our living godly. However, these human activities cause a major hindrance to that harmony. There is a simple rule that says, a change almost always accompanies with more changes that might result in chaos. The same is the case with nature. Let the forests be as they are, do not disturb the Ecological balance and this brings healthy living. References: 1. Walsh, JF, Molynneux, DH and MH Birley, 1993. "Deforestation: Effects on Vector Borne diseases" Parasitology. 2. Patz JA, Graczyk, JK, Geller N and AY Vittor, 2000 "Effects of Environmental change on emerging parasitic diseases." International Journal for Parasitology. 3. Smith, KR, Corvalen, CF and J.Kjellstorm, 1999. "How much Global ill health is attributable to Environmental factors" 4. Wilson, ML. 2001. "Ecology and Infectious Diseases." In Ecosystem and Public health. 5. Williams, M (2006).Deforesting the earth: From prehistory to global crisis: An Abridgment. Chicago: The university of Chicago press. 6. Whqlibdoc.who.int, a detailed description about the disease Malaria. Found at: whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2005/9241580364_chap7.pdf Read More