[afro-nets] UN Agencies Welcome New US Initiative to Fight Malaria (5)

[Peter Burgess <Profitinafrica@aol.com>]

UN Agencies Welcome New US Initiative to Fight Malaria (5)
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Dear Colleagues

I have been involved with work in developing countries since the
1970s. Back then, people used to talk about the growing problem
with malaria because, since independence, the efforts to control
mosquitoes to get rid of malaria had been reduced. If I remember
rightly, back then WHO was also a big supported of eliminating
the mosquito as a vector.

My understanding is that in the USA in places like Florida, the
Gulf Coast and parts of California there were mosquitoes and ma-
laria several decades ago.

The solution was NOT bednets for everyone in Florida and the
other places where malaria was a problem. The solution was to
remove the vector.

Today, when West Nile is suspected in the USA... there is a huge
effort to eliminate mosquitoes... and no effort as far as I am
aware to have Americans in the affected areas use bednets.

What is the reason why elimination of the mosquito as a key ma-
laria vector in populated areas in Africa is not high on the
agenda of anti-malaria programming? My calculations suggest that
it would cost less than bed-nets and be several times more ef-
fective.

I would be delighted to have some feedback from people who might
know more about this than I do. Until I learn some more, my con-
clusion is that, once again, the official relief and development
assistance (ORDA) world is buying into something that has become
fashionable (bednets) rather than trying to do what is best
(eliminating the mosquitoes).

Sincerely,

Peter Burgess
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
Tel.: +1-212-772-6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
The Transparency and Accountability Network
With Kris Dev in Chennai India
and others in South Asia, Africa and Latin America
http://tr-ac-net.blogspot.com