Malaria: The Historic Challenge

The Seven Dwarfs sleep under mosquito nets for protection against malaria. Images: Disney

Some medical experts believe malaria is responsible for more deaths across history than all wars and diseases combined. It is thought to have stopped the armies of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan in their tracks. Washington D.C. was so afflicted by malaria in the 1880s that one physician lobbied Congress to erect a giant wire screen around the city.

In the recent past, malaria was a major problem in the Southeastern United States, infecting millions of people throughout the 1930s. The public rallied to combat the disease; Disney produced cartoons with the seven dwarfs instructing Americans how to beat the scourge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, now the primary agency to promote American public health and safety, was founded to eliminated the disease. With a concerted national control effort, malaria was eradicated from the U.S. by 1951.

Malaria has been similarly banished from many quarters of the world. Notably, the Caribbean, Vietnam, and the Panama Canal have staged successful control efforts, as has the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. Yet it continues to terrorize Africa, parts of Asia, and South America.