A baby step in malaria prevention

So, after years of neglect, several countries, and multiple agencies will fund chemo-prevention for the young in (some) of the African countries most affected and impacted by a parasitic disease, in this case malaria, as reported here.

To date, no vaccine exists for any parasitic disease. 

Until now the countries with many of the highest risk populations have not addressed the issue(s) internally, that is, use their own resources for the eradication of environmental hazards that exacerbate mosquito infestation.   Simply clean water.

A malaria-infected baby lays in a bed in a malaria ward in the main hospital in Juba, Sudan. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images via the Guardian ©

Options do exist, but ethics, morality, finance and ignorance conjoin to often make simple options fail.

The Guardian published this piece about an option. 

Although I was acutely aware of how fortunate I was not to have contracted malaria, while most of my colleagues did, now that I have contracted Lyme Disease, I probably appreciate all the more how "ignorance" plays a role in good medical care.  Although I recognized, later than sooner ,that I had been affected, the local physician refused to give me prophylactic treatment and I went untreated longer than is sensible.

Now I am like those inflicted with malaria:  fevers, chills, fatigue and muscle pain.  

Now it is too late, just like it often is too late for all those young people in the world who get that one infected mosquito bite.

For one brief moment, Mandela

I wrote this days ago but didn't post it.  Now Mr. Mandela has passed away.

Rest in Peace, Nelson Mandela and I for one will always remember you with a smile on my face.

Today, in the New York Times, a video, looking back at his life, here.

It seems yet another film has been made about Nelson Mandela's life, this time, however, with the blessings and support of his immediate family.

This New York Times piece reminds me so clearly of the brief moment I met Mr. Mandela, a moment that I may have repeated often, but stands out more clearly today as I watch the political folly here in the US.

It was easy weather and I was outside 5 Penn Plaza.  At that time both our NYC headquarters and the offices of CNN shared space on alternate sides of the building.  Because of CNN's presence in the building, it was a frequent occurrence that popular figures in the news would appear and disappear suddenly on the stairs or on the busy thoroughfare of 8th Avenue waiting to be picked up by a taxi or a limo.

I don't know if I recognized him or just sort of fell into conversation with him because of his stature or the fact that he may have been with one or another of the cameramen I knew well.

Mr. Mandela, then, now more than a decade ago, was an imposing figure, tall, lean, and with the brightest smile this side of the Atlantic.

He was among, if not the single most generous of those news worthy figures to pop into or out of my vision and outings to the fresh air, little that there was, on this Avenue, and at this juncture of the City where not only is there heavy traffic but Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.

Science and Humanity: A most remarkable man

What a remarkable gift is Michel Sidibé, executive director of United Nations AIDS program,

Michel Sidibe, Wikapedia

who is changing the African mind-set, one step at a time, about several major issues, AIDS among the most sterling, with his personality, drive and directness.  Of course it doesn't hurt that he is an accepted member of the African family.