[afro-nets] Africa fooled on Mosquito/Malaria Control? (11)

[Tom Oconnell <tsoconnell2@yahoo.com>]

Africa fooled on Mosquito/Malaria Control? (11)
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Dear all,

 From an article on the AFB Web Site: Dr. Roger Bate is a visit-
ing fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a director
of health-advocacy group, Africa Fighting Malaria.

A supporter of George Bush & extreme free-marketers, Dr Bate
strongly supported the US Secretary of Health (a conservative
Republican lawyer) in his quest to dismantle WHO. Dr Bate feels
improving health has nothing to do with reducing poverty!

Dr Bates writes: "The now-infamous report of the WHO Commission
on Macroeconomics and Health advocates health investment as a
?means to achieving other development goals relating to poverty
reduction?. Essentially, the WHO is saying that countries, owing
to disease, are too poor to grow. Although at first sight this
seems a common-sense argument, it is obviously false, as no
country in history could have ever developed!"
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/bate200404190820.asp
(NB: the national review is the voice of conservative US poli-
tics)

This is the familiar neo-con argument: Africans cause their own
poverty by not embracing the free market. Poor health does not
cause poverty; lack of clean water and lack of access to sanita-
tion do not count either. Nope, all problems would be solved by
ending Africa?s import tariffs and allowing unfettered access to
Northern companies. (Just please do not ask the US & EU to re-
duce their import tariffs on agricultural subsidies first...)
And, no matter what else, squash any mention of providing ?free?
essential medicines. I mean, what profit would you make then?

Dr Bate & AFM deliberately mislead. E.g. they say ?WHO will not
adopt insecticide spraying?. Such dishonesty is a bit ludicrous,
when WHO calls indoor residual spraying (IRS) one of the ?pil-
lars? of its effort to eliminate malaria, along with universal
access to effective meds and bednets. WHO is staffed by many Af-
rican researchers; but Dr Bates seems to imply that they care
less about Africa?s health issues than Northern politicians such
as himself and President Bush. Ah, the white man?s burden weighs
heavily on neo-conservatives.

DDT may very well have a good role to play in controlling mos-
quitoes and malaria, which is why WHO and other malaria control
partners have issued guidelines on DDT use, to help policy-
makers make locally-appropriate decisions on its use. But ma-
laria will not be controlled by one intervention. It will take
many approaches (Indoor spraying with insecticides ­ DDT when
local governments agree - bednets and effective medicines). It
will take large and prolonged investments in public health and
preventative health: a lot of grants, not loans, Dr Bate, and
the money coming largely, at first, from wealthier countries.
And it will take WHO and other partners to do more as well. An-
swers (plural) exist, and it is time to seize the opportunities
of new global funds to effectively eliminate malaria from the
face of the earth.

You may wish to consider the above before signing up to AFM's
petition.

Kind regards,

Tom O?Connell, RN, MBA
mailto:tsoconnell2@yahoo.com

NB: I do not, in any way, speak for WHO or RBM. I worked with
WHO for several years, as well with UNICEF and the World Bank.