THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 209, November 7, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
SICK & DEADLY DISEASE CONTROL PROGRAMS:
Too Many of Them Perpetuate Disease & Cost Lives
By Paul K. Driessen
THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM ON DISEASE CONTROL & HUMAN HEALTH IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:
THE FAILURE OF AID AGENCIES & GOVERNMENTS, UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS &
ANTI-PESTICIDE ACTIVISTS, TO IMPLEMENT COMPREHENSIVE & FULLY EFFECTIVE DISEASE CONTROL PROGRAMS IN
AFRICA -- INSUFFICIENT MEASURES FAIL TO ERADICATE MALARIA & THEREBY CAUSE MILLIONS OF UNNECESSARY
DEATHS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA -- "POLITICALLY CORRECT" POLICIES CONFORMING TO THE IDEOLOGICAL TENETS OF
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM ARE BEST DESCRIBED AS LETHAL EXPERIMENTATION ON HUMAN BEINGS
FULL STORY:
If an accident kills wildlife or people, punishment is meted out and restitution made. A host of regulators, lawyers,
judges, activists, journalists, and politicians help bring the wrongdoers to justice.
But, when it comes to policies and programs that sicken and kill millions of parents and children a year, these ethics
cops and eco-warriors are not just silent. They refuse to hold government agencies and activist groups to the same
honesty and accountability standards they apply to for-profit companies. They even oppose programs that would
reduce disease and save lives.
More than 2 billion people worldwide are at risk of getting malaria, and 350-500 million contract it every year, mostly in
Sub-Saharan Africa. The disease kills up to a million African children annually, making it the continent’s greatest
executioner of children under age five.
In Uganda alone, a nation of 30 million people, 60 million cases of malaria caused 110,000 deaths in 2005. In its Apac
District, a person is likely to be bitten 1,560 times a year by mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites. The disease
also perpetuates poverty (sick people can’t work) and increases deaths from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrhea, and
malnutrition.
Controlling and eradicating this serial killer ought to be a global priority. But far too many organizations fail to take
sufficient measures, while others actively oppose critically needed interventions.
UNICEF partners with Malaria No More to raise money from donors, distribute educational materials and long-lasting
insecticide-treated bednets, provide anti-malarial drugs, and save lives. “Sometimes” they organize teams to spray
insecticides on the inside walls of houses, to “kill the female mosquito after she feeds on a person” (and frequently
infects him or her). Under “some special circumstances,” they support treating mosquito breeding sites, if the
larvacides are “environmentally friendly.”
All these interventions will help reduce disease and death tolls. They will garner plaudits from environmental activists.
But these limited measures will not result in No More Malaria. Unless and until their programs include regular use of
larvacides and insecticides to control mosquitoes, and DDT in selected cases to keep the flying killers out of houses,
UNICEF and MNM will not even come close to reducing malaria cases and deaths to what a moral person would deem
tolerable levels: close to zero – not 50%, much less 25%, of current levels.
Widespread distribution of insecticide-treated nets cut malaria deaths in half in Kenya, at least in the short run, when
regular compliance was monitored. But that means 15,000 people are still dying each year. For Uganda, a 50% reduction
via nets would mean 30,000,000 cases and 55,000 deaths.
If the United States had Uganda’s malaria rates, we would have 600,000,000 cases and 1,100,000 deaths per year. Halving
that would result in “only” 300,000,000 cases and 550,000 deaths annually. One would hope that not even Pesticide
Action Network would deem that “acceptable.”
The U.S.A. conducts aerial spraying on a regular basis – and uses Air Force tanker aircraft to spray insecticides after
hurricanes – to prevent West Nile virus, which kills about 100 Americans a year. That’s one-third of what malaria kills in
Uganda each day!
And yet misguided aid agencies, radical environmentalists, and pseudo-ethicists are telling African nations that they
should be happy with nets, “sometimes” use of limited insecticides, and a 50% reduction in malaria cases and deaths –
because these policy wonks in malaria-free countries dislike chemicals.
In other words, medical malpractitioners are saying it is better to give millions of children cheap drugs that don’t work, and
let thousands of them die, than it is to give fewer children more expensive drugs that work, and ensure that they live. By
failing to support chemical mosquito killers and repellants, they are also guaranteeing tens of millions of needless malaria
cases every year, continued shortfalls of effective medicines, and countless unnecessary deaths.
That is unforgivable, unconscionable, and immoral.
To achieve moral levels of malaria, countries need comprehensive, integrated programs that include every weapon in the
arsenal. None is appropriate in all places, at all times. But all must be available, so that they can be employed at the proper
time and place. That is why the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, and the
World Health Organization determined that these chemical weapons are vital in the war on malaria, and safe for people and
the environment.
Larvacides, insecticides, and DDT – in conjunction with nets and other interventions – can reduce the number of malaria
victims dramatically, and ensure that people who still get malaria can be treated with ACT drugs like Coartem. These truly
integrated strategies have enabled South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, and Zanzibar to largely eradicate malaria.
Uganda, where I just spent a week on an anti-malaria mission, is using larvacides, insecticides, nets, and other interventions.
It has sprayed 95% of households in Kabale District (with Icon) – and slashed the prevalence of malaria parasites in
residents from 30% before spraying to 3% afterward.
Three other districts have also been sprayed, and Uganda’s Ministry of Health plans to spray another 15 highly endemic
areas in 2008, including the Apac District. In January, 2008, it will add DDT to its program, for indoor residual spraying that
will keep at least 70% of mosquitoes from entering homes for up to six or eight months, with a single application.
Radical environmentalists are trying to stir up opposition to DDT and other spraying programs, and some people in USAID
and WHO continue undermining efforts to utilize chemical interventions. However, Uganda is adamant about ending the
needless slaughter of its children and parents. President Yoweri Museveni, Director General of Health Services Sam
Zaramba, and other leaders know DDT will save lives.
Anti-pesticide activists claim insecticide spraying is not sustainable. They are wrong – on financial, practical, public health,
and moral grounds.
What are not sustainable are nothing-but-nets programs that require constant monitoring to ensure daily use and moderate
success, while raising the risk that mosquitoes will become resistant to pyrethroid pesticides that impregnate the nets, and
parasites will become resistant to drugs that by default become the primary weapon in the war on malaria.
What are truly not sustainable are unconscionable malaria tolls that result from politically correct policies that are best
described as lethal experimentation on African children.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Africa South of the Sahara -- Black Africa
Science, Ethics, & Human Health:
Human Health & Public Policy
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Paul K. Driessen is Senior Policy Advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality, the Committee for A Constructive Tomorrow, and the
Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. Driessen is author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death, which can be
obtained at www.Eco-Imperialism.com. Email: pdriessen@cox.net --- Telephone:
(703) 698-6171
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume IX, 2007
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity