Malaria is on the rise in most of sub-Saharan Africa, despite an international campaign to control its spread. In Africa alone the disease kills approximately 3,000 people per day. Six years into the World Health Organization’s “Roll Back Malaria” campaign, malaria incidence has increased. According to Roger Bate of Africa Fighting Malaria “the main cause is the failure of the very campaign organized to combat the disease.” Worse, WHO seeks to explain away this failure on other factors, such as climate change, that have played little, if any, role in malaria’s spread.
WHO’s efforts focus on the use bed nets – to protect families from malarial mosquitoes while they sleep – to the exclusion of old-fashioned mosquito control and a new generation of relatively effective drugs. South Africa is the one African nation where malaria control efforts appear successful. Key to that nation’s success is the use of the pesticide DDT on the interior walls of buildings – a measure both WHO and the USAID oppose despite its demonstrated effectiveness. South Africa has also turned to a new anti-malarial drug, ACT, which is more effective than its predecessors. Importantly, use of ACT is affordable in South Africa because the use of DDT has greatly reduced the number of infected people needing treatment.
Together, DDT and ACT are a powerful anti-malarial team, especially when combined with other mosquito eradication and prevfention efforts. Bate concludes “Malaria can be combated effectively; all it takes is the will to do so.” Alas, Bate demonstrates, it appears WHO and other international agencies lack that will.
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