In most instances, statistics are a representation of the actual occurrences on the ground, but sometimes they are nothing more than an inadequate description. While it is true that numbers don’t lie, it is critical to learn that some conclusions may be misplaced. There are several ways to represent numbers the wrong way, including using small samples that may show a particular case that does not particularly represent the populations. Hasty conclusions, on the other hand, could be made when the conclusion is made from unreliably little evidence, thus generalizing a case ( Streiner, 2017 ). Information deduced from unreliable data or from reliable data that is wrongly interpreted could be misleading.
Who Malaria Statistics
The World Health Organizations statistics on malaria-endemic show that the cases of malaria cases have been falling in most parts of the world despite there being existing cases. Essentially, these data collected in 2018 indicates that there were 228 million cases of malaria globally, which is a 95% confidence interval of 206- 258. The highest cases in 2018 were reported in the African continent, with a total of 213 million, which was 93% of the cases. Asia was following closely with 3.4% of the cases worldwide. The democratic republic of Congo, which is included among the high burden to high impact countries reported a total of 84 million of the cases (WHO, 2019). The information indicates that Nigeria reported a total of 260000 deaths in 2018 with 40% of the population being at risk of infection despite using nets.
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Analysis
This information bears a factual representation of the spread of the malaria en0demic, which is visibly rampant in the tropics. However, the data is highly likely to be misinterpreted and hence misleading. For instance, there is no guarantee that the sample population used in collecting information from all the seven WHO regions were the same. The population in Nigeria and India, for instance, are higher than the population in most countries in the American area or other countries in Africa like Uganda (WHO, 2019). Therefore, concluding the risk involved in Nigeria as compared to Uganda or the amazon region of South America could be far from the accurate picture as the sample size and distribution could be different.
News Story.
A man was today found lying unconscious a few kilometres away from Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta. The middle-aged man who had no identification documents was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with malaria. The police confirmed that he was probably coming back to the country from a visit to Africa where the cases of malaria and the risk of infection have been recorded to be extremely high.
Why The News Story Is Misleading.
The conclusion that the unidentifiable unconscious man was from Africa because he was suffering from malaria is misleading. The reason is that while cases may be high in Africa, there are places in the Americas like Brazil and Venezuela in South America that have cases of malaria ( Conn et al., 2018 ). Therefore, a higher risk of infection does not entirely guarantee that the unidentifiable person was definitely in Africa. In essence, to avoid misleading information, a hasty conclusion should be avoided by considering all regions with an open mind.
References
Conn, J. E., Grillet, M. E., Correa, M., & Sallum, M. A. M. (2018). Malaria transmission in South America—present status and prospects for elimination. Towards malaria elimination—a leap forward. London: InTech , 281-313.
Streiner, D. L. (2017). Statistics Commentary Series: Commentary No. 23: A Plague of Decimals: Why Too Much Precision Can be Misleading. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology , 37 (6), 646-647.
WHO. (2019). The world malaria report 2019 at a glance. World health organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/world-malaria-report-2019
