A story in today’s Mail and Guardian, an online African newspaper, highlights Laura Bush’s trip to Africa where she is “shining a spotlight on malaria and aids.” The story offers great insight into the importance of DDT in the battle against malaria. It notes the “the success of DDT-spraying in countries such as South Africa and Swaziland.” In particular: “In South Africa, the number of malaria cases fell by 65% to 3,597 between June last year and March this year, down from 10,418 cases the year before. Deaths were reduced by 73% from 85 to 25. This compared with 62,700 cases and 466 deaths in 1999-2000, when the country was gripped by an epidemic because mosquitoes proved resistant to an insecticide used as an alternative to DDT.” Yet there are some who still work to prevent DDT’s life saving uses. Unbelievable. More…
Photo: White House photo by Shealah Craighead. Caption: “Mrs. Laura Bush visits a malaria spraying site in Mozal, Mozambique. Each year more than one million people die of malaria. Of these deaths, 85 percent occur in sub-Saharan Africa. For children in Africa, malaria is the leading cause of death.”
