Please Join the Church and Me in the Fight Against Malaria!

[Analytics]

This morning I got a yellow fever vaccination and took two passport photos. I sent proof of the vaccination, the photos, my passport, and $130 to the embassy of Mali to get a travel visa to that country. I'll be spending two weeks of my vacation time next year to fly to Mali (all expenses for travel paid by me) to help with a research project that could potentially eradicating malaria (or more accurately, scientifically demonstrate how to eradicate malaria). We need to raise $140k for the project, and so far have raised about $110,000. So far, the largest single contributor is a little church you may have heard of headquartered at 50 E. North Temple. We still need $30k, and I'm hoping the non-Mormon community will pony up.

Here is the story.

My dad is the token non-Mormon on the board of directors of a small charity in Salt Lake City called the Ouelessebougou Alliance (OA) (and yes, that is the worst name of all time for a charity). The the OA works on providing some basic charity services to a small set of villages around the little town of Ouelessebougou in Mali. They help with water sanitation, schools, education on basic sanitation, mosquito nets, that kind of thing. They are very big on trying to help empower the villagers to help themselves. The OA's budget is small and their goals have always been humble. Until now.

Last year, my dad was on his way to Mali to visit the operation there, and in the airport happened to meet Dr. Gunter Muller, MD, Ph.D. (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gunter_Muller), who I'm told is the world's foremost expert on malaria. Upon meeting my dad and hearing about the OA and their relationship with these villages, Dr. Muller recruited my dad for this project to eradicate malaria in Africa.

Dr. Muller believes that international charities and government agencies are already spending more than enough money in the fight against malaria to eradicate it. Yet malaria continues to infect over 200 million people a year, with over 400,000 cases ending in death. Why the discrepancy? Because the money is being spent on searching for a malaria vaccine rather than mosquito abatement. If a fraction of the money already being spent on vaccine research was instead spent on mosquito abatement programs in Africa, malaria could be ended once and for all.

However, large government and charitable organizations are entrenched in looking for a vaccine. At the moment they aren’t interested in Dr. Muller’s mosquito abatement approach. This would change if Dr. Muller could prove that cost-effective mosquito abatement protocols could be successfully implemented in Africa.

Dr. Muller, and the OA (read my dad) have recruited partners from multiple universities and U.S. mosquito abatement districts to conduct controlled scientific experiments on protocols to prove the effectiveness of mosquito abatement in Africa. The experiment will be conducted from January 2021 to May 2021 and when finished, Dr. Muller will publicize the results in the top journals and conferences in the world. If successful, Dr. Muller will have the research needed to recruit international charities and government organizations to expand the proven mosquito abatement program throughout Mali and the rest of Africa.

Dr. Muller and his team of experts are donating 100% of their time on the research. Only $140,000 is needed which will be used for equipment, chemicals, shipping, taxes, and duties. So far, the OA has been able to raise $110,000. I'm told that the LDS Church is the largest contributor to that (perhaps something on the order of $30k?).

I invite you all to laude the Church for making a contribution that is huge compared to the total amount we need, or censure it for making something so microscopic compared to what they could donate. Either way is fine with me. But what I ask is that you go to the GoFundMe site and donate something towards the remaining $30k to prove that you aren't a total hypocrite. Or post up a storm on this thread and help get it publicized and get others to donate. Do whatever you can.

(Note we are doing this through the GoFundMe site rather than donating the money directly to OA in order to be sure the money is earmarked for the malaria project. 100% of the donations will go to this project and it is tax deductible).

The potential that this has to get the large charities to more efficiently direct their donations (I’m talking about you, Mr. Gates) and actually eradicate malaria is staggering. I hope you'll want to be a part of this in a small way.

Here is the link to the GoFundMe site my brother set up. Our official goal on that site is to raise $5,000 of the $30,000 we need from our friends and family. Thank you for reading my shameless appeal for donations.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/t6hqja-end-m ... hare-sheet

[IHAQ]

Why not just partner with the Gates Foundation?

Ultimately, ending malaria will require transformative innovations. And the current challenges of rising drug and insecticide resistance threatens the efficacy of existing tools. That’s why we are investing in the development of new tools and strategies to help finish the fight.

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We ... th/Malaria

We recognize that we are just one small part of a broader, global fight. That’s why we work closely with partners to maximize the impact of our aggregate efforts. To date, we have committed more than US$2.9 billion in grants to combat malaria. In addition, we have committed US$2 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. We also advocate for sustained and increased funding of malaria-related efforts by donor governments and affected countries.

[Analytics]

Yes, that is the 50-billion dollar question.

For reasons I don't understand, the organizations entrenched in the fight against malaria have a bias against mosquito abatement. I really don't know why. Too expensive? Too old school? Bad for the environment? Impractical in Africa? Not as sexy as vaccine research? I'm hoping I'll have some time to talk about this with the people on the academic side of this next month when I'm actually there. This is a question I really want to understand.

My understanding is that Muller has successfully won sizable grants from the Gates foundation before, and the ultimate objective on this current project is for the Gates Foundation, possibly through Malaria No More, to be a big part in expanding this approach after its efficacy is proven in this first phase.

Before we go to them, Muller wants to have a research paper published that proves that this approach to fighting malaria will work. The research will be conducted across six villages. Three will receive the mosquito abatement program and three will serve as a control group. This project is about conducting that research.

[Bought Yahoo]

Enter and exit the story of DDT.

[Analytics]

Enter and exit the story of DDT.

Exactly.

[huckelberry]

Enter and exit the story of DDT.

Exactly.

Analytics, I believe Yahoo was pointing to the question of how are you going to get rid of mosquitoes. I remember the ddt problem. From years back I remember a plan to sterilize large amounts of mosquitoes and release them to inhibit reproduction of wild mosquitoes. I have not heard about that for quite a while. I would suspect that the project could temporarily reduce the population which would subsequently rebound.

Sure would be nice to know how to get rid of all these mosquitoes. I remember asking that on my first scout wilderness journey. Best solution I have found so far is camp on higher ground a good distance from lakes ponds and marshes. I realize that solution is not available in various areas in the world.

[Bought Yahoo]

I read one report that said that the elimination of DDT led to the deaths of millions from malaria. In the name of saving bird's eggs.

I don't take a position one way or the other.

When the French attempted the Panama Canal, they suffered 22,000 deaths, and 12,000 prior deaths during construction of the railway. (So much for Sorensen's "narrow neck of land" hypothesis.) The Americans came along and understood the cause of the deaths and undertook means to eliminate standing water along the path of the canal. The French used to dig trenches around their tents and filled them with water to keep vermin out.

DDT was a highly effective measure to control the mosquito population.

[Morley]

I read one report that said that the elimination of DDT led to the deaths of millions from malaria. In the name of saving bird's eggs.

I believe there was a little more to it than that.

[Gadianton]

There are some higher tech options now for getting rid of skeeters.

https://massivesci.com/articles/genetic ... e-malaria/

[Res Ipsa]

I read one report that said that the elimination of DDT led to the deaths of millions from malaria. In the name of saving bird's eggs.

I believe there was a little more to it than that.

Much more. But I don't doubt that Bought read a "report" on this subject -- probably traceable to Steven Milloy.

DDT was never "eliminated." It's use as an agricultural pesticide in the U.S. was banned, and that use has been banned by many other countries. But its use to control mosquitoes to fight malaria has never been eliminated or banned. And it has been continued to be used for that purpose. It's been on WHO's list of recommended pesticides for use in preventing malaria since 2009.

However, the disease-carrying mosquitoes started to become resistant to DDT in the late 1950s, and resistance is common now across much of Africa and other areas where malaria is a problem.