Malaria Deaths Higher Than Previously Thought: Or Not?
In this week’s Lancet, Christopher Murray published a paper presenting evidence that deaths due to malaria are vastly higher than “official” estimates from the World Health Organization. Specifically, Murray, et al. estimate that worldwide malaria deaths, though declining over time, exceeded 1.24 million compared with the WHO’s estimate of more than 600,000.
Most notably, the Lancet paper speculates that adult deaths from malaria are far higher than previously though, contradicting accepted medical ideas that immunity increases with age, freeing adults from the risk of mortality.
Murray’s paper is not without precedent. In 2010, Dhingra, et al. also called the WHO’s estimates for malaria mortality in India into question, estimating between 125,000 and 277,000 deaths were due to malaria, far exceeding the WHO’s extremely reassuring estimate of 15,000.
That malaria deaths are down worldwide is an uncontroversial notion. The wide discrepancy between published estimates of the worldwide burden of malaria mortality is, however, highly controversial. Overestimating mortality can stream precious monetary donations, most notably from big players such as the Global Fund, needlessly toward malaria, at the expense of other health concerns such as TB and HIV. Underestimating the number of deaths from malaria, can leave countries short changed and unable to fight their own malaria related problems.
Either way, controversy as to the accuracy of reporting dishevels confidence and could provide more fuel to those who advocate for reductions in global aid to fight developing world health problems (read: all of the current Republican candidates) and distract from the creation of efficient policy.
What is needed, of course, is accurate reporting and a reliable flow of health information worldwide. Many developing world governments, however, lack the resources to efficiently provide these numbers. World aid bodies, however, have, to date, missed this essential piece and reporting methods remain antiquated in many areas.
I just visited a facility in Kenya, where records are still kept on paper, and left to mildew in an unused toilet (I kid you not). One could assume that if the records were left in a functioning toilet, the numbers might end up at the bottom of a pit latrine. With the base of the worldwide reporting system in such a shambles, how can we expect accuracy in reporting?
[The Lancet, Volume 379, Issue 9814, Page 385, 4 February 2012 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60169-X] — (English) This week we publish surprising and, on the face of it, disturbing findings. According to Christopher Murray and colleagues at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
(IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle, there were 1·24 million deaths (95% uncertainty interval 0·93—1·69 million) from malaria worldwide in 2010—around twice the figure of 655 000 estimated by WHO for the same year. How should the malaria community
interpret this finding? Before we answer that question, we need to look beneath the surface of this striking overall mortality figure… Global malaria mortality between 1980 and 2010: a systematic analysis [The
Lancet, Volume 379, Issue 9814, Pages 413 – 431, 4 February 2012 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60034-8] — (English) We systematically collected all available data for malaria mortality for the period 1980—2010, correcting for misclassification bias. We developed a range of predictive
models, including ensemble models, to estimate malaria mortality with uncertainty by age, sex, country, and year. We used key predictors of malaria mortality such as Plasmodium falciparum parasite prevalence, first-line antimalarial drug resistance, and vector
control. We used out-of-sample predictive validity to select the final model…
| WHO Defends Its Numbers On Malaria Deaths [Voice of America (blog)] — (English) The World Health Organization is defending its numbers on global malaria deaths and disputes a new study claiming that nearly twice as many people die of malaria than previously believed…… |
| Malaria death toll disputed [Nature] — (English)
Study doubles official estimate, but scientists say its methods are flawed…… |
| Malaria deaths higher than expected, study finds [Deutsche Welle] — (English)
The latest findings show that the number of malaria-related deaths is nearly twice as high as previously thought. But other experts have doubts about the methods used to produce these estimates…… |
| Malaria deaths hugely underestimated – Lancet study [BBC News] — (English)
Worldwide malaria deaths may be almost twice as high as previously estimated, a study reports…… |
| Malaria kills twice as many as thought: study [Reuters] — (English) Malaria kills more than 1.2 million people worldwide a year, nearly twice as many as previously thought, according to new research published on Friday that questions years of assumptions about the |
| Malaria kills more people worldwide than once thought, study says [Los Angeles Times] — (English) In an alarming statistical turn, the number of malaria deaths every year may be vastly underestimated, according to new research re-examining mortality rates from 1980 to 2010…… |
| Malaria deaths may be double WHO estimates [Financial Times] — (English) Worldwide malaria deaths may be almost twice as high as previously estimated, according to a new study that has sharply divided scientists tackling one of the world’s most deadly diseases…… |
| Malaria death toll possibly twice as high as experts estimated [AP via FOX News] — (English) Malaria may be killing around twice as many people as experts previously thought, and it could also be hitting older children and adults – long considered the least susceptible – a new study suggests…… |
| Malaria death toll possibly twice as high [USA Today] — (English) Malaria may be killing around twice as many people as experts previously thought, and it could also be hitting older children and adults – long considered the least susceptible – a new study suggests…… |
| Malaria Kills Nearly Twice as Many People Than Previously Thought, but Deaths Declining Rapidly [Science Daily] — (English) Malaria caused over 1.2 million deaths worldwide in 2010, twice the number found in the most recent comprehensive study of the disease, according to researchers at IHME and the University of Queensland…… |
| Malaria kills more people, older people [Washington Post ] — (English) A new study found that twice as many people die of malaria every year than was previously thought and that it kills many adults as well as young children…… |
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