CARING ENOUGH

"an estimated 990,000 people died of malaria in 1995 – over 2700 deaths per day, or 2 deaths per minute."

As I've written about in the past, malaria is the single most lethal sickness on earth, it kills more children than any other source in the world. Malaria is the world's biggest killer in the last x years, particularly in Africa aside from old age. Worldwide, 350 to 500 million people get malaria per year, and a million or more die each year. Here are some stats courtesy the CDC:

• Forty-one percent of the world's population live in areas where malaria is transmitted (e.g., parts of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central and South America, Hispaniola, and Oceania).
• Each year 350–500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide, and over one million people die, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
• In areas of Africa with high malaria transmission, an estimated 990,000 people died of malaria in 1995 – over 2700 deaths per day, or 2 deaths per minute.
• In 2002, malaria was the fourth cause of death in children in developing countries, after perinatal conditions (conditions occurring around the time of birth), lower respiratory infections (pneumonias), and diarrheal diseases. Malaria caused 10.7% of all children's deaths in developing countries.
• In Malawi in 2001, malaria accounted for 22% of all hospital admissions, 26% of all outpatient visits, and 28% of all hospital deaths. Not all people go to hospitals when sick or having a baby, and many die at home. Thus the true numbers of death and disease caused by malaria are likely much higher.

This horror is, after decades, finally getting attention from various groups. The Clinton Foundation set up a program last year designed to get malaria treatments cheaply to areas that had no access to it before. The price in some areas dropped by as much as 95% under this effort, lowering the price to 50 cents. Now activist groups like Care2 (which apparently is just an umbrella group for every conceivable leftist cause in existence) are calling for donations and more help for this effort.

Yet what's missing from this push?

Any mention of DDT. Since DDT was banned in the USA (and thus any country that uses it is prohibited from getting World Bank loans), ninety million people have died. Recently the World Health Organization (and thus the World Bank and UN) has changed its position on DDT and the drug's use has been okayed in countries afflicted by malaria-carrying mosquitos.

Also missing? President Bush's huge push for African aid and assistance, which the Africans are well aware of, but Care2 and similar groups want to avoid mention of in any way. President Bush far more than the Clinton foundation, and under his administration the changes regarding DDT took place - whether they'll stay in place under the Obama administration is doubtful - but that simply cannot be admitted by the left. For groups like Care2, the old Rachel Carson junk science fears of DDT and the hatred of President Bush trumps everything. Killing DDT was an early victory for the radical left in America and they love it like American patriots love the fourth of July.

So instead of trying to wipe out the cause of DDT in an effort that African nations would undertake on their own, these leftist groups want to address the results of DDT with loans and money from countries outside Africa. Instead of letting them take care of themselves, the left wants to take care of Africa. Not only is this patronizing, but it contributes to the problems Africa suffers from. Countries with tyrants can use their money for palaces and bullets rather than taking care of their own people - and they would with malaria because they get sick and their soldiers catch the disease - which keeps them under the control of leftist government.

And there's just a measure of silliness to it all. Care2's other email to me today? It's about the red river floods. Their concern isn't the homes and businesses of the people afflicted, it isn't about lives destroyed and lots. No, they're worried about pets. "Animals shouldn't be forgotten when a disaster hits." They say. Donate money to save the little puppy. Sandbags? People's lives? Nah. Forget that, let's help the kittens. It is a bizarre perspective, to say the least.