[afro-nets] UN Agencies Welcome New US Initiative to Fight Malaria (6)

[Patrick Mbindyo <pmbindyo@magricon.com>]

UN Agencies Welcome New US Initiative to Fight Malaria (6)
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Dear All,

Mr. Burgess has neatly encapsulated my gripe (Thank you Peter).
He states...
>"My understanding is that in the USA in places like
>Florida, the Gulf Coast and parts of California there were mos-
>quitoes and malaria 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."

Why should I be given a net while what I need is the actual ter-
minal destruction of the mosquito? Even if the nets were free
(which they are not), how many poor people in Kibera (a slum in
Kenya reputed to be the largest in Africa) would be happy with
that? The environmental conditions that these people live in are
very suitable for the propagation of the malarial parasites. So,
are we helping them by giving them nets? In any case, all the
mosquito has to do is wait till you get out of bed!

Thus my question still stands: why do we need to buy nets when
what we need is to destroy the malaria vector?

Patrick Mbindyo
mailto:pmbindyo@magricon.com