The Roman Catholic

In most parts of the world malaria has been eradicated. Much progress has been made in eradicating diseases and this is evident from the disappearance of many infectious diseases from all the continents, save Africa.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, of the Earth Institute in Columbia University, writes in the Time magazine issue of 1/15/2007, that an estimated 4 children die every minute in Africa, i.e., 2 million this year! Mothers in parts of Africa where children have been decimated by malaria bear many children to offset the death rate.

Malaria has also shaped the poverty trap in Africa and at least one Big Pharma company has launched a new anti-malaria drug recently. Not surprising it’s priced such that those in poverty do not have access to this medicine. There is hope yet.

In this space-age or internet-age the path to eradicating malaria lies with the humble bed net. It’s a special bed net though as it’s treated with insecticide and the net lasts for 5 years. It doesn’t cost anywhere near the cost of the anti-malaria drug from Big Pharma but merely $10. This amount may be exorbitant still for many families in malaria hit Africa but for people in the Americas, Europe and many parts of Asia, this is a measly sum to donate. Consider that we spend without a second though on a $3-coffee at Starbucks several times a year, month, week or even a day!

Citizens movements like Malaria No More give free bed nets to needy families in the afflicted zones together with tips on how to prevent the disease. If this works, it’ll be the first time an infectious disease has been eradicated via non-pharmacological means. The last disease we eradicated was smallpox and now the WHO is focused on exterminating polio and the fulcrum in both instances are vaccines.

The significance of this project is that it goes against the grain of normal disease elimination strategies as juxtaposed here:

• Normally it’s bu spearheaded by WHO or some UN body; here it’s ordinary people
• Normally Big Pharma is the prominent partner; here the manufacturer of the insecticide is anonymous
• Normally it involves enormous resources in terms of medicines; here it’s only bed nets and lesser numbers (as one bed net can accommodate a few children).

This is a noble project to sacrifice for, for this Lent. Let’s spread the word and be personally involved in the riddance of a disease and be ray of hope to others, especially children, as our Lord commanded us.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 13th, 2007 at 14:46 and is filed under Catholic News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.