Overview
Overview
Social Initiatives
Social Initiatives
Turkey
Preventive health care in Turkey: Protecting people from malaria
Malaria was thought to have been eradicated in Turkey, but now the disease is once again a serious problem in many regions, such as southeast Anatolia. That's why Bayer has joined together with the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) to launch a broadly based prevention campaign. The initiative is also aimed at combating a second insect-borne illness called cutaneous leishmaniasis, an infectious disease characterized by the formation of skin sores that take approximately one year to heal.
The project centers around mosquito nets treated with insecticides, the use of which is strongly recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). This method of infection prophylaxis enables people to defend themselves against the disease independently. The insecticide treatment prevents the mosquitoes from stinging through the net. Use of the nets is flanked by information campaigns waged jointly with the local health authorities. The goal is to create among the population an awareness of the options available for fighting these two diseases.
The costs of the anti-malaria project are shared equally by Bayer and the GTZ. The money provided by the company is used to finance the information campaign and ensure that a malaria and leishmaniasis expert and specialist in tropical medicine from the WHO is on hand to monitor medical procedures.
Between 300 and 500 million people become infected with malaria each year, and the disease almost exclusively affects developing countries. Of the one to three million people who die of malaria each year, most are children under five years of age. The demand for new treatment options is likely to continue to rise in the coming years due to increasing resistance to currently used medicines. About 2.5 billion people live in regions where there is a risk of contracting malaria.
The project centers around mosquito nets treated with insecticides, the use of which is strongly recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). This method of infection prophylaxis enables people to defend themselves against the disease independently. The insecticide treatment prevents the mosquitoes from stinging through the net. Use of the nets is flanked by information campaigns waged jointly with the local health authorities. The goal is to create among the population an awareness of the options available for fighting these two diseases.
The costs of the anti-malaria project are shared equally by Bayer and the GTZ. The money provided by the company is used to finance the information campaign and ensure that a malaria and leishmaniasis expert and specialist in tropical medicine from the WHO is on hand to monitor medical procedures.
Between 300 and 500 million people become infected with malaria each year, and the disease almost exclusively affects developing countries. Of the one to three million people who die of malaria each year, most are children under five years of age. The demand for new treatment options is likely to continue to rise in the coming years due to increasing resistance to currently used medicines. About 2.5 billion people live in regions where there is a risk of contracting malaria.
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