In a plan that may seem better fitted for a Hollywood science-fiction blockbuster, scientists in the UK are exploring a new route in the ongoing fight against malaria: genetically-modified mosquitoes. Malaria kills over 1 million people every year, mostly children.
From the AP:
Millions of bed nets have been handed out, and villages across the continent have been doused with insecticide. But those measures haven’t put a significant dent in most malaria cases…Some scientists think creating mutant mosquitoes resistant to the disease might work better.
[The scientists] are now planning to create sterile male mosquitoes to mate with wild female mosquitoes, thus stunting population growth. They are also trying to engineer a malaria-resistant mosquito.”
There’s definite worth to the classic “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” adage, but many wonder if there could be unintended consequences when one “fools with mother nature.”
Lead scientist Andrea Crisanti considers this project one worth the risk.
Crisanti acknowledged there might be unintended consequences of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild, although he could not predict what they might be.
“I think there is a moral good to doing it” he said. “If we do this right, the mosquitoes will get rid of malaria for us.”
Just a few moments ago Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke of movement on PEPFAR during his morning remarks. I transcribed his comments below.
We are hopeful that negotiations are moving forward, but the agreement is not yet complete. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.
Reid:
“We also are going to bring before the body within the next 24 hours the PEPFAR legislation. What is that? It’s the AIDS legislation that the president is in favor of and we’ve been trying to move.
It’s been held up on the other side by a senator or two.
And we are hope that we can complete that. Again I will ask consent that that be passed today.
It’s my understanding having spoken to Senator Enzi that he and Senator Biden have worked something out on that and hopefully the senator on the other side who’s objected to this will no longer object to it.”
Ashley Judd visited Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an Ambassador with Population Services International’s Five and Alive program in late April. She wrote her experiences in a personal journal. Below is an except from one her last days on the trip.
Day Five:
There is a weekly call in radio show called “Abajene,” a rally cry for youth, which is hosted by a young idol we have empowered with medically accurate information. For kids without electricity and phones (so many!) our Cinemobile does tours to rural parts of the country gussied up with a audio/visual kit in order to attract kids, give them “infotainment,” and let them use the provided cell phone to call in their teen age dilemmas and inquiries. On site, there is dance, singing, games, recreational pursuits, a football pitch, and job skill training. Within these “services” kids learn everything from personal hygiene, prevention and treatment seeking behaviors (how/when/why to go to a medical clinic), and let us not forget, they have a chance to simply be kids, to play, to run, to forget, for a few precious moments, all their burdens and cares, the back breaking chores that await them at home, and how they will probably be going to bed hungry. Again.
I love this approach, not just because it is holistic, but because it embodies the ideal of collaboration with other grassroots organizations.
Five & Alive, a program of Population Services International (PSI), provides children and their families with the education, products, services and care needed to improve health and save lives in more than 30 countries. www.fiveandalive.org
Last Wednesday night, a few of us at ONE had the chance to hear Jeffrey Sachs speak at the CARE National Conference. It was a really exciting opportunity to hear from someone who has done so much research and reflection on the challenges of fighting global poverty and more specifically, meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. It was great to hear his insights on both the looming food crisis and the upcoming election.
Sachs cited a lot of data that really put the crisis of global poverty into perspective. He compared the American defense and foreign assistance budgets to demonstrate how little we give to Africa as a percentage or our GDP (we give 1/100 of the defense budget in foreign assistance.) He also mentioned the food crisis as an example of the need to support local farmers and empower their growth instead of limiting our activities to emergency aid.
Sachs concluded his speech by sharing his wish to see the Millennium Development Goals in the next president’s inaugural address as a way of expressing our solidarity with the world’s poorest people. His message and enthusiasm were heard and embraced at the conference, leaving us with yet another voice encouraging us to keep pushing our leaders in such a significant year.
Yesterday, just days before the date set for Zimbabwe’s run-off election, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the election and went to the Dutch embassy seeking refuge.
He has survived at least three assassination attempts and last year he was hospitalized after a brutal assault by police at a prayer rally. Images seen around the world of his bruised and swollen face have come to symbolize the plight of dissenters in Zimbabwe…
On Sunday, Tsvangirai pulled out of the violence-wracked presidential runoff, declaring that the election was no longer credible and the loss of life among his supporters was simply too high.
And just now U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released a statement, including:
The United States condemns in the strongest terms the Government of Zimbabwe’s continuing campaign of violence against its own people… The Mugabe regime cannot be considered legitimate in the absence of a runoff. In forsaking the most basic tenet of governance – the protection of its people – the Government of Zimbabwe must be held accountable by the international community. We call upon the Southern African Development Community, African Union Peace and Security Council, and the United Nations Security Council to take up this issue immediately.
A great NYT editorial on PEPFAR’s stall in the Senate:
Unfortunately, the Senate’s version of the bill, which was approved by the Foreign Relations Committee in a 18-to-3 vote, has bogged down in procedural uncertainties. A group of seven Republican senators, led by Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, has placed a hold on the bill unless their concerns are met…
These objections are unpersuasive….Mr. Coburn wants to ensure that the bulk of the American money goes for treatments that will save lives. But earmarking a specific percentage of funds to be spent on particular activities hampers the flexibility and effectiveness of the program, according to both the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the Government Accountability Office…
The bill is currently stalled because Senate leaders seem reluctant to bring it to the floor absent an agreement that would limit debate and expedite a vote. Some advocacy groups that don’t like specific provisions would prefer to wait for a new president and Congress. But no one can be sure that, in a faltering economy, there will still be bipartisan support for a $50 billion bill next year. It would be best to pass the bill in time to strengthen the president’s hand at the G-8 summit in early July.
At the same time, new and innovative approaches are being developed on the ground in Africa to fight hunger and malnutrition. In Mozambique, I met with agricultural scientists and experts who are working on new ways to fortify crops to produce stronger and healthier vegetables rich in vitamin A and zinc. Support for these efforts will be crucial in developing long-term, lasting solutions.
The growing global food crisis is a complicated and challenging emergency that puts millions of lives at risk. The small ripple of rising food costs we feel here in New Hampshire disproportionately turns into a riptide in the poorest countries on Earth. But there are concrete ways to help find solutions and results that will undoubtedly depend on sound and just U.S. policies and leadership.
In a land of plenty and in a world in need, we have the resources to help greatly minimize and mitigate the global food crisis. From the campaign trail to halls of Congress, and from the White House to the G8 summit in Japan, the world must focus more attention to enacting better global food policy for all.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
