Africa fooled on Mosquito/Malaria Control? (13)
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Dear Hamisi and other colleagues,
Thank you so much for bringing the petition to our attention. I
have read the dossier, and I'm going to sign on, in support. I
encourage others to do the same. When I chaired the Malaria
Foundation International, there was a very strong global move-
ment to ban DDT; part of negotiations to ban POPs, what they
called the dirty dozen. We worked tirelessly, produced a peti-
tion which attracted over 400 signatories (including three Nobel
prize winners in medicine and physiology). I spoke at two nego-
tiation meetings (Geneva and Johannesburg), was interviewed by
dozens of international newspapers, appeared on South African
TV, was on several SA radio stations, etc. etc . But for the
most part I failed in the rest of Africa: local journalists (in-
fluenced by JET) refused to interview me, an arranged TV debate
with them was cancelled, I asked several African malaria experts
to sign the petition but only a handful did so. I however got
the backing of the Tanzania Ministry of Health, and finally the
then WHO-AFRO Regional Director. I chaired the WHO HQ meeting on
DDT, but they refused to produce our report, by then WHO Geneva
was also against DDT or at best sat on the fence; they were
scared by Greenpeace. Now that we have been primed by the ongo-
ing discussions, I have every hope that many Africans who are
genuinely concerned about the malaria scourge will sign on.
Regards,
Prof. W. L Kilama
Managing Trustee
African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET)
Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology Building
P.O Box 33207, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Tel: +255-22-2700018
Cellular: +255-744-777-767
Res: +255-22-264-7217
Fax: +255-22-270-0380
mailto:wlkilama@amanet-trust.org
http://www.amanet-trust.org