PoPulationand Public HealtH etHics

worlDwiDe anD local
anti-Malaria initiatives
Lise Lévesque, Ph.D.
Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Laval [Laval health and social services centre]
Comité plurifacultaire d’éthique de la recherche [Multi-faculty committee on research ethics]
Université de Montréal
Montreal QC
leVesquelIse@yaHoo.Ca
Introduction
The malaria epidemic strikes almost exclusively in the least developed tropical
countries of Africa, Asia, South America, and Oceania. This disease is
transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, which injects blood contaminated
with the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, a protozoan. This parasite attacks
the liver and blood cells, causing bleeding, kidney and liver failure, brain
disorders, and death. Pregnant women are the most vulnerable to infection.
Economically, this epidemic contributes to productivity losses, while socially,
it leaves children orphaned.
The countries most affected by malaria lack the material resources to fight it.
Medical staff often opt for countries that offer them better incomes. The most
affected countries also lack the resources to do research, while pharmaceutical
companies give priority to research on diseases of developed countries,
which are more profitable. International assistance to developing countries
for local research and field intervention risks being diverted to other uses,
because corruption and lack of transparency and accountability are real
problems in these countries.
81