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Anti-DDT lobby could slow fight against malaria , minister says -
IRIN
The Anti-DDT lobby is costing lives and we hope that the Minister's statements will stop the pseudo-science and scare mongering and help to save lives. The EU has a shameful record in stopping Uganda from using DDT. Their actions are killing Ugandan children and must stop. |
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More resources needed for malaria -
Mail & Guardian
So let's get this right... UNICEF, WHO and the other Roll Back Malaria partners have all failed miserably in rolling back malaira and yet they are appealing for more money. How about giving money to programs that are actually working! Giving more money to UNICEF would be irresponsible and imoral - their actions have led to an INCREASE in malaira cases and deaths. |
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Brown says Interest growing in malaria vaccine -
Lesley Wroughton
Gordon Brown, UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, should put his energy into funding malaria prevention using tools that we know work - such as indoor residual spraying. That way we could be saving hundreds of thousands of lives right now, rather than having to wait yet another 10 years for a vaccine. |
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Malaria: DDT use urged -
Jasson Urbach - Health24
Jasson Urbach writes in favour of DDT use in malaria control. As we head towards Africa Malaira Day 2005, the WHO, UNICEF and donors should pay attention. |
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Reversing the failures of Roll Back Malaria -
Lancet
This Lancet editorial pulls no punches in its analysis of Roll Back Malaira and quite rightly, we believe, concludes that "the RBM partnership needs strong leadership and a clear signal from all its partners that malaria is a priority. Without this commitment, the history of RBM will become a calamitous tale of missed opportunities, squandered funds, and wasted political will." |
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Taxes Raise Drug Costs -
Scott Miller - Wall Street Journal Europe
Scott Miller of the Wall Street Journal Europe reports on AFM's new paper on taxes and tariffs on medicines published by the AEI-Brookings Joint Centre. |
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UN Says Kenyans Have Failed to Curb Malaria -
Waweru Mugo
What business does the UN have criticising Kenya when it should look within for the source of malaira control failures? The reality is that the UN has pushed an ITN-only policy and has forced countries to abandon Indoor Residual Spraying (something that works spectacularly well). Yes Kenya is failing, but the fault lies with the UN - specifically UNICEF and WHO not just the Kenyan government. |
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Carter: rich states "don't give a damn" about poor -
AlertNet
Carter may be partially right - but more money isn't the solution necessarily. Rich countries ignore the solutions to diseases like malaria that actually work, like DDT spraying. Also, Carter forgets that many poor country governments give less of a 'damn' for their poor than rich country governments. Many poor countries are poor and sick because their elite polticians keep them that way with daft policies that entrench their power and keep the foreign aid rolling into their own pockets. |
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Agency Aids Uganda -
Jude Etyang
The Global Fund has allocated $66million to Uganda to improve malaria treatment. This is good news, however it would be better if the global funders and donors provided support and funding to prevent malaria cases from occuring in the first place. The Ugandan government has wanted to spray DDT for several years now but has been stopped from doing so by donors and by threats from the EU that it would ban all agricultural exports. |
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Why is HIV So Prevalent in Africa? -
Michael Fumento
Michael Fumento asks why HIV prevalence is so high in Africa and questions whether heterosexual sex is the main form of transmission - contrary to what the WHO and UN say. Blood transfusions, sharing needles and bad medical practice may be the answer. |
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Nepad calls for stop to reliance on foreign aid -
Elizabeth Mwai and Waweru Mugo
Some sensible talk from the NEPAD Council which calls for less government-to-government aid and more investment. Aid transfers have only led to more poverty and corruption in Africa, but now NEPAD have to put some serious effort into improving the institutions of a free society, so that the private sector can invest. Condeming Robert Mugabe and his violent regime would be a good start. |
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Malaria wedding net dress decline -
Abraham Odeke
A campaign in Uganda to stop prospective brides using malaria nets as wedding dresses appears to be having an effect.
The cheap bed nets are treated with insecticide and intended to prevent mosquito bites, but clergymen and health officials have in recent years campaigned vigorously against the practice.
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Science shows how malaria 'hides' -
Scientists have determined how the deadliest malaria parasite "hides" from the body's immune system, but it will be a while before this research might have any practical benefit. |
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WHO: Millions of Mothers, Babies Die Needlessly -
Stephanie Nebehay
The WHO reports that "Countries reporting a rise in newborn, child and maternal mortality rates included Kenya, Rwanda, Swaziland, Turkmenistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe." Note that with the possible exception of Zambia, these are all countries with significant institutional problems, intransigent and unaccountable government and a lack of free markets and free people. Getting these institutions right will not only grow their economies, but improve their health status |
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UK global HIV strategy criticised -
BBC News
The UK comes under fire for its AIDS spending plans. The BBC reports that "Nearly half of DfID's aid budget goes on multilateral bodies, such as the European Commission, but just 4% of the £1.4bn pot is then spent on HIV/Aids. " |
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Sanofi Launches New Malaria Drug -
The East African Standard
Sanofi launches its new malaria drug - an artemesinin based combination therapy. This is good news for malaria patients around the world. |
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Zim Health Crisis 'Threat to SADC' -
Bertha Shoko - The Standard
One of the few remaining independent newspapers in Zimbabwe, The Standard, reports on the tragic destruction of Zimbabwe's healthcare by Mugabe's government. |
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Wolfowitz sets Africa poverty aim -
BBC News
Wolfowitz has the potential to improve the World Bank - but only if he breaks from the past. Reforming the Bank's failed malaria program would be a great place to start. See our recent National Review Online article on this topic under recent articles. |
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Mugabe's party sweeps to victor -
BBC News
Mugabe steals another election - AFM believes this is bad news for the health of the nation. Under Mugabe's rule, life expectancy has fallen to just 33 years. People are dying of preventable and curable diseases and all the healthcare gains made from 1900 onwards have been undone. Only when peace and real democracy are restored can the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans improve. |
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The Incredible Shrinking Country -
Dr Marian Tupy
Marian Tupy of the Cato Institute writes of the apalling consquences of Zimbabwe's political and economic turmoil - which amongst other things has reduced life expectancy to just 33 years. |
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Anti-DDT lobby could slow fight against malaria , minister says
Environmentalists against the use of the pesticide DDT could harm efforts to eradicate malaria in Uganda, the minister of health, Jim Muhwezi, said on Monday.
If environmentalists continued to pressure donors to discourage the use of DDT, he said on Africa Malaria Day, "Any efforts to roll back malaria would be fruitless".
"DDT has been proven, over and over again, to be the most effective and least expensive method of fighting malaria," he said. "Europe and America became malaria free because of using DDT, and now we too intend to get rid of malaria by using it."
He added, "Cases have continued to increase since launching the Roll Back Malaria programme in 1998, from 5,5-million to 16,5-million in 2004."
Malaria is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the disease occurs in at least 100 countries and kills at least a million people every year, mostly young children in Africa south of the Sahara.
The Roll Back Malaria programme, initiated by 90 organizations including WHO, the UN Children's Fund, the UN Development Programme and the World Bank, aims to halve malaria deaths in Africa by 2010.
However, up to 515-million people around the world continue to suffer from malaria every year, according to a recent study by Oxford University, UK, with 90% of the cases occurring in Africa.
In Uganda, malaria kills between 70 000 and 110 000 children every year, Muhwezi said. He added that the country spent an average of $347-million annually to buy anti-malaria medicine.
In April 2004, the Ministry of Health announced plans to use DDT to combat the nation's rising prevalence of malaria, a move widely condemned by environmentalists.
Concerns have been raised about the pesticide's long-term effects on the environment, as well as possible consequences to the health of humans and animals.
Although Europe and the US used DDT to eradicate malaria, they banned its use decades ago, over fears that it could be harmful to the environment.
On its website, the conservation organization, WWF, says it has found "sufficient evidence of hazards to human health and wildlife to justify a global ban on the production and use of DDT".
WWF says the pesticide could harm human health by damaging the developing brain, causing hypersensitivity, behavioural abnormalities and a suppressed immune system.
The Ugandan government has authorised the National Environment Management Authority to organise an environmental impact assessment analysis before the importation of the pesticide.
"We decided to consult with all stakeholders, including the environmentalists, before beginning to use DDT," Muhwezi said. "We will start once their environmental impact assessment is complete."
He said Uganda intended to use DDT only indoors, as recommended by WHO.
Moreover, he said, the pesticide would initially be sprayed in pilot areas before being used countrywide.
According to the malaria programme control manager in the Ministry of Health, Dr John Rwakimari, treatment of the disease has become more complicated with patients developing high resistance to common malaria drugs.
"Chloroquine and fansidar are no longer effective against malaria," he said on Friday.
He added that part of the $66-million the country recently secured from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, would be used to buy more effective drugs.
Muhwezi said lack of access to health centres was another cause of many malaria deaths. He added that by June, the government planned to double -- from 30% -- the number of patients able to access medical attention within 24 hours of the onset of the disease's symptoms.
DDT would be used, Muhwezi said, in conjunction with insecticide-treated bednets. The government has already distributed 1,4-million nets free, while another 600 000 have been sold through the private sector.
Muhwezi said a further two million nets would be distributed to vulnerable groups such as young children and pregnant women.
The chief of the EU mission in Uganda, Sigurd Illing, said there could be dire consequences for the country's exports to Europe -- which account for more than 30% of Uganda's total exports -- if DDT was detected in export commodities such as horticultural produce.
Asked if the government feared the loss of trade with the EU, Muhwezi said: "We are confident that because we plan to follow WHO regulations regarding the use of DDT, we will have no problems on that issue." -- Irin
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