Articles

SADC malaria day commemorated in KZN

Jasson Urbach | 24 Nov 2023 | Health Policy Unit

The annual South African Development Community (SADC) malaria day was held on 14 November. Health ministers attending the commemorations descended on the small town of Jozini in northern KwaZulu-Natal to raise awareness of the risks of the disease before the start of the rainy season that typically runs from November through to March. During this period, the scourge of malaria is at its worst in the region.

Making sense of the health care "brain drain"

Jasson Urbach | 11 Nov 2023 | Free Market Foundation

South Africa's chronic shortage of skilled health care professionals continues unabated and the situation worsens by the day. It is therefore unfortunate and inappropriate that the Department of Health continues to restrict the supply of doctors by limiting the number of foreign health professionals entering SA and the number of positions available at the government-run medical schools across the country.

Killing With Kindness

Jasson Urbach & Julian Harris | 27 Sep 2023 | ModernGhana.com

The UN convened this week in New York to discuss its Millennium Development Goals and the aim of "ending poverty by 2015." Delegates and a rock star boasted of billions of dollars transferred to African governments, while failed schemes prompted activists to call for even more money. Donors re-branded the failed Roll Back Malaria scheme and promised US$3 billion.

AFM Bulletin #2: What makes a malaria control program sustainable and successful?

None | 19 Sep 2023 | Africa Fighting Malaria

Malaria is an extremely devastating and complex disease, and controlling it is neither simple nor easy. Successful and sustainable malaria control programs have an integrated and balanced approach that covers all of the technical, research, and scientific components of malaria control. These programs also have firm political commitments by national governments that ensure sustainable funding and support for malaria control, and policies that are guided by scientific evidence. A good example of a successful and sustainable program is the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative (LSDI).

Foolishness & Foreign Aid

Richard Tren & Philip Coticelli | 25 Apr 2023 | New York Post

Today is World Malaria Day; all three presidential candidates will likely mark the occasion with fresh promises on foreign aid, malaria and poverty. Problem is, the "solutions" will mostly boil down to spending more money with less oversight - ignoring a vital difference between the UN's sorry record and recent US experience.

Canucks Against Malaria

Richard Tren | 18 Dec 2023 | American.com

While in Tanzania recently, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a bold new foreign aid program called "The Initiative to Save a Million Lives." He also promised that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) would double its assistance to Africa by 2008-09. In all likelihood, a good portion of the money will be allocated to fight malaria, the number one killer of African children. Unfortunately, the CIDA's track record on malaria is patchy at best, and it has much to learn from America.

Malaria control on Zanzibar Island

Jasson Urbach | 27 Nov 2023 | Health Policy Unit

Earlier this month, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) commemorated the annual SADC malaria day, which occurs on the second Friday of November. The day that was chosen because it precedes the start of the peak malaria transmission period of January to April in most Southern African countries. Around this time, most countries prepare themselves for the coming malaria season and the purpose of the commemorations is to bring malaria control managers together to share ideas about what policies work in malaria control.

Fighting a Disease of Logistics, He Means Business

Jenny Andeson | 13 Nov 2023 | New York Times

When Lance Laifer, a hedge fund manager in New Jersey and former Internet entrepreneur, started researching malaria two and a half years ago, a prominent professor with a medical background told him that doctors were not drawn to malaria research because it was a disease of logistics. "Doctors don't do logistics," Mr. Laifer recalls that he said. "Business does logistics.

Presentation: Development Goes Wireless

Jasson Urbach | 12 Nov 2023 | Africa Fighting Malaria

The rapid spread of cellular telephones in many African countries has been a remarkable and unexpected phenomenon, particularly when one considers the high levels of poverty and social turmoil in many of these countries. Technology that has long been taken for granted by people in rich countries has made life easier, safer and more prosperous for many, including poor people, in developing countries. The result of the rapid diffusion of this technology is that a significant number of jobs and enterprises have been created, which has enabled many Africans to escape the poverty trap.

Failure to Measure Up

Roger Bate | 17 Oct 2023 | National Review Online

At the end of September, The Lancet, a British medical journal, published papers demonstrating the United Nations's misuse of scientific information in relation to child mortality, and especially in relation to malaria. It is pleasing that the Lancet has exposed this misuse because it is a rare event — the exposure, not the misuse of data. More alarming, however, is that the U.S. media chose not to report on this significant abuse. One wonders if data manipulation from the U.S. government, on say, climate change, would receive no headlines as well.