[afro-nets] Roy Innis on malaria (9)

["Peter Burgess" <profitinafrica@gmail.com>]

Roy Innis on malaria (9)
-----------------------

Dear Colleagues

Jeff Buderer recently introduced the issue of environment into the dialog about the malarial dimension of African health. While I do believe that we should take reasonable steps to preserve (and improve) the environment, the priority should be to improve quality of life and expectation of life for everyone, including Africans.

With 3,000 children dying daily from malaria, mostly in Africa ... addressing the prevalence of malaria ought to be a clear priority. Almost certainly DDT seems to be the most effective approach and least costly, especially in combination with other interventions in an integrated approach.

Yesterday the LA Times carried an article by Marla Cone about a DDT study done at the University of California Berkeley. The following is a letter I have sent today to the LA Times editors.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peter Burgess <peterbnyc@gmail.com>
Date: Jul 6, 2006 6:48 PM
Subject: DDT Study Finds New Hazards
To: letters@latimes.com

Dear Editor

Your article written by Marla Cone about a UC Berkeley study on the impact of DDT exposure on 360 pregnant women sends a message that I do not believe is either valid or responsible.

While it is clear that DDT is a powerful chemical, experience shows that its value used appropriately in connection with the reduction of malaria prevalence is far greater than the cost of the risks. With 3,000 children dying every day from malaria, mainly in Africa, the cost of NOT using DDT is unacceptable. The experience of using DDT safely for malaria control is substantial ... and the risks seem, in fact, to be lower than was originally anticipated 50 years ago.

In some recent work in Southern Africa, an area that had 40,000 malaria cases a year in 2000 was reduced to under 2,000 a year three years later in a program that included using DDT. This is impressive. But Canada, the USA and the EU all tend to frown on using DDT (even with sensible safeguards) to save African lives.

What do the LA Times and Marla Cone think should be done to address the malaria crisis? DDT is apparently far and away the best way to proceed ... and in my view, not doing so, is de-facto genocide.

Peter Burgess
____________
Peter Burgess
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
212 772 6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
The Transparency and Accountability Network
221 East 66th Street (4C)
New York NY 10021

I am a Cambridge trained engineer / economist. I also trained as a Chartered Accountant. I was the CFO of a US based international company some years ago and have spent more than 25 years working as an adviser in the international relief and development sector. My primary area of interest is the management information dimension of the relief and development sector. I have worked on assignments in more than 60 countries around the world.