Eradicate malaria?
Last year, while working with MEDEX Global Group to develop health information for travelers, our Communications group learned quite a lot about malaria: the conditions that allow it to thrive, the mosquitoes that transmit it, and the parts of the world where you really have to protect yourself against it.
There are an estimated 500 million malaria infections every year, a fifth of which are fatal.
This week a piece in the New York Times Health section looks at the possibility of eradicating malaria. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has put $1.2 billion towards that objective, but if they really believe that malaria can be relegated to the lab, like smallpox, then they are in the minority:
Dr. Regina Rabinovich, the foundation’s head of infectious disease, said the Gateses knew it was a long-term undertaking, not possible without more money, better health systems and probably a vaccine, which is still far off.
Dr. Arata Kochi, the W.H.O. malaria chief, went further than other skeptics, arguing that the specter of eradication is counterproductive. With enough money, he said, current tools like nets, medicines and DDT could drive down malaria cases 90 percent.
“But eliminating the last 10 percent is a tremendous task and very expensive,” Dr. Kochi said. “Even places like South Africa should think twice before taking this path.”
False hopes, he said, lead governments to hope for miracles instead of accepting the mundane budget-draining control policies that he endorses. For example, health officials from Rwanda and Zanzibar, having drastically cut malaria within their borders, have asked him about seeking money for elimination.
Even relatively wealthy countries rarely succeed at that. South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Mexico all control cases but see new ones imported — from Mozambique, Yemen and Guatemala, respectively, he said.
Dr. Awash Teklehaimanot, director of the malaria program at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, said he worried that calls for eradication raised expectations too high, inviting frustration and a loss of political will.
“Maybe 10, 15 years from now, we should consider this,” he said.
