Mosquito/Malaria Control (4)
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Dear Colleagues,
Bill Nesler recently briefed me over the telephone on the merits
of eliminating mosquitoes using modern techniques such as aerial
spraying and fogging rather than the "band aid" of pesticide
treated mosquito nets which does not really address the underly-
ing problem. Certainly there may be a case of a bed net approach
in some situations, but not where there is a high population
density of both humans and mosquitoes.
As a "cost accountant" with more years in relief and development
than I care to remember, the approach being proposed by Bill
Nesler is very cost effective, especially if it can be done for
a period of several years after which a rather less costly ongo-
ing control program is possible. While I have not done an inten-
sive cost analysis, it looks to have a lot lower cost than a
universal bed net program and give a far better outcome.
Looked at another way, the life saving potential of Bill
Nesler's proposed approach is huge (how much do we value a sin-
gle human life... if it is an American and it is medical mal-
practice, the insurance settlement will be a lot more than US$
10 million... so life does have monetary value. Clearly this
sort of thinking is absent from the discussion about getting the
health agenda funded in Africa... but life certainly has a lot
of value). The cost benefit justification for this program is
easily made.
Looked at another way again. If the bed net program is justi-
fied, as Professor Jeffrey Sachs has reported in his work for
the Millennium Development Goals project and in his new book
"End to Poverty", then Bill Nesler's much better program would
be even more justified.
With regard to the "safety" of the pesticide, Bill Nesler's pro-
posal uses the same pesticide that is allowed for use in the
United States. It is highly toxic to mosquitoes, but has no im-
pact on human health (except having them have less malaria).
Based on what I have learned about the program, it would be very
good use of Global Fund resources and really make a huge differ-
ence to health in Africa.
I hope Bill Nesler will be able to share with me some more cost
information. Then I will happily help any country organization
to think through the cost/benefit justification for this program
and help make the case for early activation.
Sincerely,
Peter Burgess
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
Transparency and Accountability
a global not-for-profit Network
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
Tel: +1-212 772 6918