Dr. Bumsted at Biocultural Science and Management alerted me to the Seattle Times’ special section on fighting malaria. The extensive set of articles ran in the newspaper on Friday, February 1, 2008. You can order a copy of the special reports in a separate section here.
Child suffering from malaria. Seattle Times, February 1, 2008
Photo caption from Seattle Times: “Malaria strikes hardest at young children, such as 5-month-old Mkude Mwishehe, who lies comatose in the regional hospital at Morogoro, Tanzania. Babies often die as a result of fever, anemia and brain damage caused when the mosquito-borne parasites destroy blood cells and clog blood vessels.”
Seattle’s news organizations look at malaria in large part because malaria is a target of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The package features outstanding photography of malaria-affected Tanzania and Zambia, good interviews, in-depth reporting, good writing, and multi-media presentations that might be suitable for classroom work. The multi-media pieces could be used as examples of what students should be doing with PowerPoint projects.
The Seattle Times’ work on the fight against malaria is a tour-de-force masterpiece of what a newspaper can do to promote the public good. The newspaper demonstrates the heights writers can aspire to. Good on ’em, as Molly Ivins would say.
I have not found a single mention of experts calling for more DDT, as the junk-science purveyors do. There are several attempts to urge DDT by readers in the Q&A session, but the expert malaria fighters are careful with their facts — it’s a real education. Read the articles. The research and the work against malaria pushed by the Gates Foundation is exactly the research and work that DDT-happy advocates frustrate with their political screeds.
Which group does more to save Africans, those who fight malaria as described in The Seattle Times, or those who rail at environmentalists and call for more DDT?
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
It is informative to learn what Washington State is doing on various levels to promote the eradication of malaria and problems arising from the parasite in Africa.
It is hoped that the content of the url (CDDF) will contribute to a wider public health understanding of what is needed to eliminate malaria and encourage sustainable preventative disease measures throughout Africa.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Dr. I.M. Spence-Lewis; Board Member
Community Directed Development Foundation-Ghana
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Just in case you thought (don’t know your history) malaria is just for those “other” folks, here’s a map predicting the tundra in western Alaska (Bering Sea, 60 degrees North) in 40 years.
The Global Spread of Malaria in a Future, Warmer World D. J. Rogers, and S. E. Randolph
Human genetic adaptations to malaria remains some of the clearest examples of continuing evolution, but at an enormous cost in lives, health, energy.
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