In one of the
most malarial infected areas of Uganda:
Signboards erected by the side of the road announced the presence of two foreign-assistance programs. One was a European-funded child-protection group, which had no malaria component to its program. The other was the National Wetlands Program (NWP), funded by Belgium. Partly because of NWP's influence, the draining of malarial swamps is banned — which amounts to preserving wetlands at the price of human life. Spraying houses with insecticide — which in 2008 cut malaria infections in half — is also forbidden. Why? Because of objections from Uganda's organic-cotton farmers, who supply Nike, H&M and Walmart's Baby George line. Chemical-free farming sounds like a great idea in the West, but the reality is that Baby Omara is dying so Baby George can wear organic.
Some successes have been seen:
malaria has been at least halved in nine African countries since 2000. Ethiopia and southern Sudan should reach universal protection this year;
HT: Poverty News Blog
!!! Southern Sudan should reach universal protection this year?! Really? What on earth does that mean?
ReplyDeleteI believe Alex Perry is largely referring to bed net coverage. But since the article isn't about success, he really doesn't give much detail about what is meant, what his source is, and so forth.
ReplyDelete"The payoff can be spectacular. malaria has been at least halved in nine African countries since 2000. Ethiopia and southern Sudan should reach universal protection this year; Chambers predicts global bed-net coverage in the first quarter of 2011, just months past his target. A visit last August by Chambers and Chan to the children's ward of a Zanzibar hospital produced whoops of joy from Chan. It was empty."
Two paragraphs later we find our 'hero' running in shock and terror from a packed hospital where the only medical staff has also left. "The mothers were looking to me, but I had nothing to offer."