We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
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We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
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Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#2Eliminating malaria may or may not be possible. If you look at the work that Jimmy Carter and others have done to eradicate Guinea Worm -- reaching a low of 148 people infected in 2013, down from 3.5e6 in 2013 -- it is now primarily a political problem. The last infections are in south Sudan.
If Gates can accomplish this, eradicating malaria is a worthy coda of a life.
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#3Eliminating malaria may or may not be possible. If you look at the work that Jimmy Carter and others have done to eradicate Guinea Worm -- reaching a low of 148 people infected in 2013, down from 3.5e6 in 2013 -- it is now primarily a political problem. The last infections are in south Sudan. If Gates can accomplish this, eradicating malaria is a worthy coda of a life.
And on the other side, the fake vaccine drive used to locate Osama bin Laden (or at least the leaking of it) might turn out to dwarf the September 11th attacks--it may keep polio from being eradicated. Hopefully it just delays the eradication.
Back on topic: how does Gates want to address animal vectors for malaria? Nothing in the blog post.
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#4Eliminating malaria may or may not be possible. If you look at the work that Jimmy Carter and others have done to eradicate Guinea Worm -- reaching a low of 148 people infected in 2013, down from 3.5e6 in 2013 -- it is now primarily a political problem. The last infections are in south Sudan. If Gates can accomplish this, eradicating malaria is a worthy coda of a life.
And on the other side, the fake vaccine drive used to locate Osama bin Laden (or at least the leaking of it) might turn out to dwarf the September 11th attacks--it may keep polio from being eradicated. Hopefully it just delays the eradication. Back on topic: how does Gates want to address animal vectors for malaria? Nothing in the blog post.
It's one of the things that makes me wonder what useless worthless fuckwit thought that was possibly okay to do. We have enough -- and often for good reason! -- problems getting vaccines to certain countries; indisputable evidence the cia was testing identities subverts all the trust people have worked to build.
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#5Before the Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, billionaires usually did three things:
1. Buy fancy yachts.
2. Continue running the business that made them rich.
3. Spend a token amount on a feel-good charity. The Foundation to Prevent Euthanasia of Cute Puppies or Whatever.
Gates has managed to convince them of another option:
4. Spend wealth to alleviate large causes of suffering that few/no groups are working on.
More than 3.3 million people who would have died of malaria are alive today.
I realize he can't take full responsibility for that, but considering all he's done, Bill Gates is a living saint.
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#6Before the Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, billionaires usually did three things: 1. Buy fancy yachts. 2. Continue running the business that made them rich. 3. Spend a token amount on a feel-good charity. The Foundation to Prevent Euthanasia of Cute Puppies or Whatever. Gates has managed to convince them of another option: 4. Spend wealth to alleviate large causes of suffering that few/no groups are working o…
Rockefeller and Carnegie were donating vast sums of money to many different charities long ago. I wouldn't call either of their donation efforts "feel good".
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#7Before the Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, billionaires usually did three things: 1. Buy fancy yachts. 2. Continue running the business that made them rich. 3. Spend a token amount on a feel-good charity. The Foundation to Prevent Euthanasia of Cute Puppies or Whatever. Gates has managed to convince them of another option: 4. Spend wealth to alleviate large causes of suffering that few/no groups are working o…
Rockefeller and Carnegie were donating vast sums of money to many different charities long ago. I wouldn't call either of their donation efforts "feel good".
I'm aware of both. I said, "usually" and I was talking about contemporary billionaires.
Both Carnegie and Rockefeller had a sense of effective philanthropy. I find it very impressive that Carnegie managed to spend 90% of his assets before he died.
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#8Before the Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, billionaires usually did three things: 1. Buy fancy yachts. 2. Continue running the business that made them rich. 3. Spend a token amount on a feel-good charity. The Foundation to Prevent Euthanasia of Cute Puppies or Whatever. Gates has managed to convince them of another option: 4. Spend wealth to alleviate large causes of suffering that few/no groups are working o…
>More than 3.3 million people who would have died of malaria are alive today.
This does make him sound like a saint, but is number of lives saved really a good metric? I mean, what's the quality of life like for these three million people, what's their life expectancy?
I know this makes me sound like a horrible person but I think keeping extremely poor people barely alive looks good as a statistic and there's more worthy causes to spend our efforts on in those areas where malaria is prevalent.
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#9Before the Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, billionaires usually did three things: 1. Buy fancy yachts. 2. Continue running the business that made them rich. 3. Spend a token amount on a feel-good charity. The Foundation to Prevent Euthanasia of Cute Puppies or Whatever. Gates has managed to convince them of another option: 4. Spend wealth to alleviate large causes of suffering that few/no groups are working o…
>More than 3.3 million people who would have died of malaria are alive today. This does make him sound like a saint, but is number of lives saved really a good metric? I mean, what's the quality of life like for these three million people, what's their life expectancy? I know this makes me sound like a horrible person but I think keeping extremely poor people barely alive looks good as a statistic and there's more wo…
> This does make him sound like a saint, but is number of lives saved really a good metric? I mean, what's the quality of life like for these three million people, what's their life expectancy?
You can't really be improving living conditions of people who are dead can you. So it's a first step.
Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation
#10Before the Gates Foundation and The Giving Pledge, billionaires usually did three things: 1. Buy fancy yachts. 2. Continue running the business that made them rich. 3. Spend a token amount on a feel-good charity. The Foundation to Prevent Euthanasia of Cute Puppies or Whatever. Gates has managed to convince them of another option: 4. Spend wealth to alleviate large causes of suffering that few/no groups are working o…
>More than 3.3 million people who would have died of malaria are alive today. This does make him sound like a saint, but is number of lives saved really a good metric? I mean, what's the quality of life like for these three million people, what's their life expectancy? I know this makes me sound like a horrible person but I think keeping extremely poor people barely alive looks good as a statistic and there's more wo…
What if some of the poverty in these countries is because people die young/unexpectedly? Lots of people dying can't be good for the economy. What if curing the deaths helps the quality of life?