Jon Snow on Malaria
Some hopeful and some less hopeful stories from Jon Snow, writing in the Guardian earlier this month. He describes a malaria net factory in Arusha:
Inside the A to Z factory, blue longlife netting cascades from 50 huge industrial looms. There are about 1,200 African workers working to save the lives of other Africans. But Anuj Shah, who runs the company is no do-gooder. He's in it for profit and is determined that net making in Africa is a seriously commercial activity. Currently producing 3m of these nets a year, he expects his new factory, which is under construction nearby, to start producing 7m a year by April. After that he hopes to expand to 20m - a tenth of Africa's entire need...
...news came through of the Ugandan government's decision to go after the officials who had stolen $280,000 of Global Fund money made available to buy the longlife nets. Among those under suspicion was President Museveni's own brother-in-law.
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Hello, just as mentioned above...corruption is one of the biggest enemies of any kind of progress in Africa (and everywhere really) but unfortunately as an African I am aware of the extent of corruption is that region.
Efforts to save lives are being reduced by such shameful acts.
Luckily there are many africans who are honestly trying to make a change in this fight against malaria.
Join the fight!
Posted by: Hadji | Aug 24, 2007 7:02:03 AM
Capitalism at its finest! A practical means of avoiding the source of malaria and other infectious diseases, as well as profit from creating a supply of needed product where demand is high.
Posted by: Bob | Jan 15, 2008 5:13:40 PM
Hello! Corruption is everywhere and in all levels of society. It may not be acceptable to most. The malaria victims, one of the poorest, cannot fight them. Let's make use of what is left to its fullest.
Grieving...
Posted by: Gil | Oct 24, 2008 11:38:53 PM