[afro-nets] Malaria management

[Bill Nesler <sdbc@hur.midco.net>]

Malaria management
------------------

Hi All,

Medical entomology has known for decades that malaria cannot be
controlled without controlling the anopheles mosquito. A good,
comprehensive, integrated program of mosquito/malaria control
will drastically reduce the number of malaria cases that need to
be treated. The overriding philosophy is that it is better to
prevent the mosquito from transmitting the parasites than to
treat the disease once contracted. The application of this phi-
losophy through technology is the very reason that malaria no
longer exists in North America, Europe, Australia and other
parts of the developed world.

That malaria can be greatly reduced is not in question. The only
question appears to be: Who will make a serious commitment to a
real comprehensive control strategy and see to it that it be im-
plemented? All of the workshops and conferences that have ever
been held have not killed one mosquito or prevented one case of
malaria. It takes people in the field, applying insecticides, to
kill mosquitoes. Anything else is doomed to fail before it be-
gins. This is not to say that application of insecticides is the
only strategy, but it is a key and absolutely necessary compo-
nent.

To see a proposal for West Africa go to
http://www.tr-ac-net.org/index.php

* Click on development dialog;
* Go to development dialog again and click on drill down;
* This should give you a malaria heading, drill down.

This site is still being constructed so it can be a little cum-
bersome, but the info is there.

Cheers,

Bill Nesler
West Coast Aerial Applicators
mailto:sdbc@hur.midco.net