Ethiopia

Malaria's Moment

Topics: Health
Countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda
Malaria nets. Photo: <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/delamaza/462827603/">Tomas de la Maza (flickr)</a>
Malaria nets. Photo: Tomas de la Maza (flickr)

Is malaria's reign of terror coming to an end?

Every year, 500 million people fall seriously ill with malaria — a disease that induces fever, chills, nausea, flu-like illness and, without treatment, coma and death. More than 1 million people die each year from malaria — almost all in the developing world. The near-universal poverty of its victims is one reason it has not received the attention, and therefore the money, necessary to secure its demise.

Even in the face of these scary statistics, malaria may be about to meet it's match. The Economist reports a renewed sense of interest in its eradication, mainly because it jeopardizes the UN's Millennium Development Goals, a set of benchmarks in health, education and human welfare that world leaders committed to attain by 2015.

There's a cost-benefit rationale, too. Malaria costs Africa upwards of $12 billion a year in health expenses and lost productivity. Yet a five-year eradication plan might cost as little as $2.2 billion a year, according to a report by Malaria No More and McKinsey & Company.

With these numbers in mind, last week the UN unveiled a new campaign to fight malaria at its most critical spots. The Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership — created to "enable sustained delivery and use of the most effective prevention and treatment for those affected most by malaria — staged the first World Malaria Day last week. It coincided with a UN plan to spray inside houses and distribute insecticide-treated bed nets to "all people at risk" of the disease by the end of 2010.

Any effort to stamp out malaria must deal with an added layer of complexity. When diminished but not destroyed, malaria can come back with a vengeance. Any letup in the eradication campaign may end up actually increasing the numbers of those at risk.

But considering how much malaria undermines the war on poverty, a risk taken to ensure its eradication may be a risk worth taking.

Will East African Drought Doom Pastoralist Lifestyle?

Topics: Climate and Environment, Water
Countries: Ethiopia
Photo: Geoff Oliver Bugbee for Mercy Corps
Photo: Geoff Oliver Bugbee for Mercy Corps

A few months ago, I wrote about a team of journalists reporting on water issues and conflict in Kenya and Ethiopia, where a tremendous drought is spreading across the region. Pastoralists — herders whose livelihoods depend on the animals they breed and tend — are running out of water and pasture land. As a result, they are crossing borders and traditional tribal boundaries in pursuit of water. This search for scarce resources is leading to tensions, as The East African Standard reports from Nairobi:

"There is already a build-up of inter and intra clan tensions over water and pasture," says the DO [District Officer]. In fact, he says, they have had to quell inter clan clashes at Sake, with the assistance of elders. Those far away from the Ethiopian border have been left at the mercy of nature, the Government and development agencies, to provide water.

In Ethiopia, the reporting team created a film that compellingly illustrates the oncoming crisis. “Pastoralists are more vulnerable to drought than they were 40 years ago," the film tells us. "Researchers predict that they will be some of the first people on Earth forced to abandon their way of life due to climate change.”

From the Archives

Digital Doctors

Countries: Ethiopia
Previously filed under: Africa, Technology
Information technology could potentially change the face of medicine in Ethiopia. But will ‘telemedicine' help more than a lucky few?

From the Archives

Africa's Scientific Revolution Must Start at the Roots

Countries: Ethiopia
Previously filed under: Africa, Technology
If Africa is to build a sustainable science and technology infrastructure, it needs more than just enthusiastic promises from heads of state.

Breaking News

Namibia: Kavango Communities Get Natural With It

All Africa - Fri, 05/09/2008 - 04:01
THE GOSPEL of sustainable use of Namibia's natural resources is increasingly being preached in many parts of the country.

Kenya's cabinet learns the ropes

BBC News - Fri, 05/09/2008 - 04:37
Kenya's power-sharing cabinet meets for the first time for former rivals to learn how to work as a team.

Burma rejects need for foreign aid workers, UN blasts regime

Times Online - Fri, 05/09/2008 - 00:11
Eyewitness report from disaster-struck region

Burma shuns foreign aid workers

BBC News - Fri, 05/09/2008 - 03:55
Burma wants aid but is "not ready" for foreign experts, its foreign ministry says, as fears grow for cyclone survivors.

The future of social networking: mobile phones

Times Online - Thu, 05/08/2008 - 16:00
Picture this: a young woman goes to a party. She doesn't know anyone but it's fine because she has her mobile with her. A few clicks and she accesses the profiles of a dozen people at the party, including their pictures. She's in luck: two of them turn out to be friends of friends. She messages them and they start to chat.

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