Friday Science: Malaria

Bill Gates has been dumping his money into eradication of malaria around the world.  I am glad he is doing it.  Although he has been succeeding while playing the drug research game and costing a ton of money.  Jimmy Carter and his group has almost eliminated the Guinea worm around the world with a simple little straw that filters out the worm while sucking up water through it.  Gates and Carter are taking different paths at the eradication of Malaria.  No longer do they drain swamps and indiscriminately spray poison and oil on water.  The disease which has suppressed societies for thousands of years is being eliminated. 

Sickle Cell disease is a natural adaptation to fight the malaria virus and is the poster child for natural selection in humans.  Natural selection is a distraction here because we must use all resources to eliminate disease and keep ignorance out of it.  I remember in the movie "Apocalypse Now" when the soldiers vaccinated the children in a village and then in the next scene, the witch doctors (religious zealots) said the arms of the children needed to be amputated to remove the devil that was injected in them. 

Ignorance and snittyness is not the answer to world anything, whether it is hunger or employment or health care.  Gates and Carter see the bigger picture on the use of science to solve social issues.  Healthy people are more likely to make healthy decisions.  As it should be.