Bill Clinton launching program in Africa: "Not one soul should die of malaria."

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/Reuters: Clinton Pilots Subsidized Malaria Drugs In Africa
By REUTERS
Published: July 23, 2007

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton launched a program on Sunday to make subsidized malaria drugs available in Tanzania in a test scheme that could serve as a blueprint for Africa as a whole.

The project will make life-saving ACT drugs available at 90 percent less than the current market price to a national drug wholesaler, which will then distribute them to rural shops.

Malaria, caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes, kills up to 3 million people a year worldwide and makes 300 million seriously ill. Ninety percent of deaths are in Africa south of the Sahara, mostly among young children.

Many of those lives could be saved with modern artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) drugs, which are far more effective than older treatments such as chloroquine. But a price of up to $8 to $10 per treatment puts them out of reach for many people.

"Not one soul should die of malaria," Clinton told reporters at a town outside Dar es Salaam after touring three medical stores....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-malaria-clinton.html

[William769]

1. Bill Clinton still being Presidential.

:)

[MISSDem]

2. The Right wing folks think that Bill Clinton and

everyone else like him who will not allow DDT to be used to kill mosquitoes should be jailed for crimes against humanity. What a bunch of nut cases.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Good for him!

This is a CRUCIAL issue.

Important as terrorism is, malaria kills incomparably more people.

One of the best wars to fight is the war against disease. Sadly far fewer resources go into that than into military wars.