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http://www.monitor.co.ug/sunday/news/news01143.php What are the alternatives to fighting malaria? Is there money to be made by some greedy individuals yet again from passing this motion through that is probably not going to kill the malaria carrying mosquitoes alone, but cause adverse long-term genetic effects to the population.  Why is it so hard to instigate preventative methods of a different kind as opposed to using DDT?

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=canada_home&articleID=2521302

Funding almost out for bed nets that protect African kids from killer malaria

 

 

[NDP MP Alexa McDonough, the party's international development critic, is in Africa for a two-week tour of Kenya and Uganda.

She has spoken with families in remote parts of Kenya about how bed nets have changed their lives.

"They said their children were just sick all the time before," she said in an interview from Nairobi. "But once the bed nets were used, this was no longer the case.

"I cannot imagine any possibility other than wanting to continue programs that are so cost-effective and remarkably successful.”]

I really would like to hear views from anyone on their thoughts over the use of bed nets – especially as the Ug government seems more than ever intent on using DDT.  Is there more to what's being served by the push towards using DDT such as perhaps some coroporate pharmaceutical deals taking place?

SB

We live in a world where making money is more important the lives of ppl.  DDT cannot be sold in developed countries because it is known to cause cancer in humans.  The maker of DDT is not about to give up making money; so they sell it to countries like Uganda.  The only reason our country buys it; is because the DDT producer has sweetened the deal for them by giving kick backs to the politicians hence the politician argues her/his people that it is a good product which can save lives. The same thing is happening with the cigarette producers, it is becoming harder to sell cigarettes in developed countries therefore they go to countries like Uganda. 

My views are based on what I learned in school about economics and my own common sense

My two cents

Very right ladies.

If DDT can kill mosquitoes (assuming it is the only solution we have), wot else is it likely 2 kill? Knowingly or unknowingly.

true..the deal must be sweet for one greedy person in the government. some developing countries are also rejecting it..its not the right way of preventing malaria. how long will it last once sprayed? years?

Tobacco giant sparks malaria row:

Cigarette giant British American Tobacco is leading a campaign to stop Uganda from joining one of Africa's most lauded efforts to control the blight of malaria.Uganda has more than 12 million cases of malaria every year, killing 110 000 people, mostly children and pregnant women, and, encouraged by the success of other African countries in controlling malaria, the Ugandan government is preparing to spray the walls of homes with a weak solution of DDT to kill the disease-carrying anopheles mosquitoes.Yet BAT, in a coalition with many other corporations in Uganda, has called for a delay to the spraying programme, warning that the use of DDT could threaten lucrative exports of tobacco, coffee, cut flowers and other agricultural products.

The group says exports worth more than $400-million and 600 000 Ugandan jobs could be lost if DDT is found to contaminate the export crops. The companies have urged the Kampala government to carry out further studies on the use of DDT and to use of alternative methods, although they have been found to be ineffective against malaria in other African countries.

The controversial DDT has recently been endorsed by the World Health Organisation and other major public health groups as an effective and safe chemical to use against malaria.

Catherine Armstrong, spokesperson for BAT in London, told the Observer, "BAT does not oppose the use of DDT. A consortium of 52 companies in Uganda, including BAT, issued a statement which outlined the potential negative and economically damaging impact of the use of DDT. The group of companies asks that the government to put in place measures to make sure that crops do not get contaminated. Crops stored inside family huts could be contaminated. If agricultural exports are rejected from the EU, the US and Australia, this would be disastrous for the economy and jobs."

Anti-malaria activists are furious with BAT and the other companies in Uganda. They say many countries, including Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar and South Africa have used DDT for decades against malaria without the rejection of exports.

South Africa offers a good example of the effectiveness of spraying homes with the DDT solution. In 1996 the South African government stopped using DDT and replaced it with synthetic pyrethroid insecticides. The country almost immediately plummeted into one of its worst ever malaria epidemics -- from around 6 000 cases in 1995 to over 60 000 in 2000. In early 2000, South Africa reintroduced DDT to control malaria in KwaZulu-Natal Province and introduced new malaria therapies. The combination of effective insecticides and drugs ensured that malaria cases fell by almost 80% by the end of 2001.

Richard Tren, director of Africa Fighting Malaria, called BAT "hypocritical and callous" for its stand in Uganda. "It is unbelievable that a company like BAT, which sells products known to cause cancer, would oppose DDT. Decades of evidence have proved it can save millions of lives. That BAT would oppose DDT in this way is not only foolish, it is deadly and represents a truly shameful episode in the company's history."

Tren said the company earned a profit of over $748-million in Africa alone and called on BAT to use its resources to help save lives, instead of "stalling the fight against malaria".

Malaria kills more than one million African children each year, or one child every 30 seconds. - Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 

Munyonyo the location for CHOGM is gonna spray the area with Mosquiron 100 to fight Malaria btw...am among the anti DDT its not about fighting malaria only but to see how you safeguard lives and their produce.