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We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

gatesnotes.com

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Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#11

Post by rmc »

cma wrote: post #3
x0x0 wrote: post #2

Eliminating 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.

I don't think it was a fake vaccination, they just got some extra blood. However it does prove that "it's all a CIA plot" is an actual possibility.

Some charities (like MSF) are incredibly anti-political for exactly this reason. Some charities (like US AID) are not/

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#13

Post by thaumaturgy »

cma wrote: post #3
x0x0 wrote: post #2

Eliminating 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.

> Back on topic: how does Gates want to address animal vectors for malaria? Nothing in the blog post.

This is only a guess, but Gates has been funding several different efforts to combat the mosquitoes themselves. One of them was something the HN crowd might appreciate: a "laser fence", an automated sentry that was remarkably able to detect mosquitoes in the air and cook them to death.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#15

Post by __Joker »

ggreer wrote: post #5

Before 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…

Yes, Gates believes that philanthropy can be part of solutions to alleviate social problems[1]. While most people don't agree to that, at least he is doing something one way or the other.

[1] http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Why-Inequality-Matters-Capit...

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#16

Post by peteretep »

rmc wrote: post #11
cma wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't think it was a fake vaccination, they just got some extra blood. However it does prove that "it's all a CIA plot" is an actual possibility. Some charities (like MSF) are incredibly anti-political for exactly this reason. Some charities (like US AID) are not/

    > Some charities (like US AID)
US Aid is neither a charity, nor an NGO. They're a government agency, their employees go to countries on diplomatic passports, and the whole point of a government International Aid program is politics.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#18

Post by thaumaturgy »

hellodevnull wrote: post #8
ggreer wrote: post #5

Before 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…

Heh. I predicted a comment like this would be here before I even opened the comments page. "Getting rid of malaria is nice and all, but those people will still be poor." (I also expected, "Are we really sure that saving the lives of so many people is a good idea?", but fortunately that comment isn't here yet.)

It's difficult to have much empathy for people whose lives are so far removed from our own. For most of us, cancer is the boogeyman: most of the people here have had at least one friend or relative affected by it. What would you say to someone that suggested that saving the lives of cancer victims wasn't a worthy cause?

> ...there's more worthy causes to spend our efforts on in those areas where malaria is prevalent.

You are welcome to spend your efforts wherever you like. Gates has decided to spend his efforts on malaria. There is no room for an "our" there, unless you are a significant part of the Gates Foundation. I'm grateful that the mob doesn't get to decide how Gates spends his resources.

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#19

Post by lukevdp »

hellodevnull wrote: post #8
ggreer wrote: post #5

Before 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…

Say that to someone whose life has been saved! You don't need to be rich to be happy. Who are you to judge the value of someone else's life?

Re: We Can Eradicate Malaria Within a Generation

#20

Post by deanclatworthy »

> Armed with this 50-cent test, community health workers with little training can determine in minutes with 99 percent accuracy whether someone has malaria or not. Last year, we deployed 200 million of them in Africa alone.

I found this statement incredible. My perspective is from someone who had a Malaria scare after coming back from Asia this summer and passing through Krakow, Poland.

I had numerous blood tests to determine whether I had malaria or not, taking hours to get the results, and even then an expert from the hospital told me they could not be sure and would need to take further tests when my fever shoots up to determine if the spores are actually there.

If we have a 50c test that has been rolled out 200 million times to Africa, I find it astonishing that a modern medical center in Poland would not have access to them.

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