Taking the No-Fly Zone to a New Level

Times reports in an article titled Battling a Scourge about the ongoing model for global aid in Africa to rid its wetlands of mosquitoes, and ultimately, Malaria. For all of those who have had the pleasure of sitting in one of my Africa South of the Sahara lectures in 6th Grade World Cultures, you know that Malaria has absolutely destroyed the lives of Africans all around Africa. You also know that Europeans struggled to settle and colonize the interior parts of Africa due to the mosquito. That is, until quinine was found and man once again had figured out how to beat nature (for a little while anyway). Now that all of Europe has ultimately decolonized Africa, Africa is left to pick up its pieces.

In 2008 the Democratic Republic of Congo alone had almost 19,000 deaths due to Malaria. Angola, not far behind pulled in almost 10,000 deaths. What this results in is that 1 in 5 African babies die due to Malaria alone. So what is the solution? Simple actually, it's called a mosquito net... So you might be thinking, why doesn't everyone just go out and buy a mosquito net? They would, if they could. Currently only 31% of African homes have at least one mosquito net.

On a global level, no single continent has received more aid than Africa in the last 40 years, yet the system is plagued with corrupt people that don't get grants and donations to the people who need it most because it lacks a signature, or needs to be filed. This leaves literally billions of dollars unclaimed and unused in Africa. Imagine, giving a $10 mosquito net (this includes distribution of the net) to each family in Africa could completely annihilate the Malaria dilemma on their continent. In 2008 there were 863,000 deaths in the world from Malaria, 91% of those deaths were in Africa. In 9 African countries (year 2000) where mosquito nets were distributed to each household, a 50% reduction in Malaria cases has resulted.

While the solutions may be simple, things can become very, very complicated, especially when money is involved.

Best,

C.S.