An Ancient Foe
Time has travelled, from decades to centuries and West Africa still feels the pain caused by this ancient foe. Nigeria, my country, is a top country from the West African roots. From the beginning of time, plants, animals and many other organisms have been seen to be peculiar to West Africa. One common and most peculiar creature to West Africa is mosquitoes. The female anopheles mosquito is a carrier of plasmodium which is responsible for a disease called malaria. The fight to completely eradicate this disease has been so fierce over the years.
The colonial history of Nigeria has it that the British who came to colonize Nigerians suffered in the hands of this foe. They were bitten by mosquitoes which made them sick, even to the point of dying. The mosquito is a small yet dangerous insect which takes human blood and leaves a parasite in them that causes malaria. This sickness has drawn the attention of the globe at large. There are drugs to help save one from the deadly effect of malaria. The USAID still provides free mosquito nets to affected African countries to prevent mosquitoes from biting them at night. These notable efforts and more have existed for the strategizing of fighting malaria.
Consequently, some efforts to fight malaria even turn out to be disadvantageous to man and his environment. For instance, the mosquito repellant which is usually rubbed at night to prevent mosquitoes from biting a person. Medical professionals have criticised its use and state that consistent use of these repellants have a high tendency of resulting in skin cancer. So, the struggle against this foe becomes two faced. A tussle to confront this sickness could lead to one's disadvantage if care isn't taken. Studies have raised strong concern on the use of long-term repellant ingredients, such as DEET. These concerns revolve around skin irritations and allergy reactions. At the same time, it's also necessary to accept the fact that it is not harmful except used too consistently and using repellants with concentrated chemicals. Therefore, avoiding its use would be a better option.
Fighting this foe has been so critical and over the years production of insecticides has been quite rampant. Research has proven the ineffectiveness of insecticides against mosquitoes to a certain level. Regularly spraying insecticides against mosquitoes will make the mosquitoes get used to the chemical with time. For this, instead of the mosquito to die as a result of the chemical composition of the insecticide, it even tends to withstand the effect which contradicts the purpose of spraying the insecticide. This study has made several insecticides producing companies to resort to increasing the chemical composition of their products, with the view of killing the mosquitoes completely and as well a market strategy to gain more profit. This strategy turns out to be detrimental to human health and environment. This is such a tussle against a harmful tiny creature. An attempt to fight this ancient foe without proper examination could be dangerous to man, therefore, the research on fighting mosquitoes and the adverse malaria, has not ended.
There is actually a preventive technique for battling this ancient foe. It is factual that every living thing has its habitat and has a higher survival rate in its habitat. A mosquito is usually prominent in a damp environment, with stagnant water for breeding. If one lives in a dirty environment as such, he or she is prone to the torments from this ancient foe. You cannot share habitat with mosquitoes and not expect the cons that follow. It is best to clear any bushy area around your surroundings and get rid of stagnant water at all costs. Any ground that is not level should be levelled to prevent water logging that could result in stagnant water. This is a sensible preventive technique that makes an environment where mosquitoes cannot thrive.
Following the method above, fighting this ancient foe becomes easier and other preventive techniques can possibly work. A preventative measure as using mosquito nets would be effective because you have cleared your environment and sleeping under nets is just a work over. Unlike having a dirty environment where you get bitten by a mosquito in the evening and sleep under nets at night which is already a lost battle because you've been bitten already.
If we create an environment that threatens a mosquito or does not befit their survival, then winning this ancient foe becomes an easy task.
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In conclusion, the fight against this ancient foe does not really need external aid, rather an individual could take it up on his or herself to create an environment devoid of mosquito infestation to promote a healthy life, through and through.