There's a very good article on the BBC today about the effect the current Ebola outbreak is having on the fight against malaria in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It's a very unfortunate combination of two problems - the fact that limited resources (particularly medical staff) are now being severely stretched, and that the similarity of symptoms in the early stages of both diseases is leading to reduced treatment seeking.
“These countries have previously been really hit by malaria. But five years ago, it was even worse - the deaths were double.
We all agree that no child should die from malaria, because we have the tools to prevent and treat it.
But now, understandably, all the health workers’ attention is on Ebola.
We used to see hospital beds with three children in them at a time, because there was not enough space.
Now those paediatric wards are becoming ghost areas, because of the lack of manpower there. So we don’t know who has malaria, and who is dying from it. Even if the situation is at the same level as last year, that was still very bad in those countries. We’re really concerned that Ebola will cause a setback to the efforts on malaria.
And there’s a lack of trust and confidence in health workers. There’s still a feeling it’s them who are bringing the virus to people.”
The effect of Ebola on malaria transmission, and of concomitant malaria on Ebola survival, are certainly areas with many open questions.