Many of our northern hemisphere subscribers have vacationed in the last month. The warm summer months have brought numerous reports of West Nile virus in the USA, and of malaria and dengue fever in Europe. Convergence is the word: the world is becoming a small village and tropical diseases are becoming a reality in Europe and the USA. In the southern hemisphere the winter is on, often a dry period with marginal transmission of malaria in many places. Snow in South Africa, and floods in the Philippines. The world is changing fast and vector-borne diseases with it. But will the days come that we distribute bednets in Europe? Surely not. Will we allow malaria to resurge in Europe and focus on case management year after year to see drug resistance kicking in? Definitely not. IPT for pregnant mothers? No way. Take malaria out of its African context and immediately we would look at it differently. These inconsistencies led me to write about the TED talk of Margaret Heffernan in the context of malaria. Have a look and tell us what you think.
Bill Jobin triggered a discussion on the benefits of house screening versus the use of bednets. Bill's view is clear from what he writes, but if you agree with him, then why is the world focused on bednets? Perhaps it would be good to have a look at Heffernan's talk and then read Bill's viewpoint.
Finally, we have published another article in the MalariaWorld Journal - this time about a brilliant autobiography written by Wallace Peters.
Enjoy this week's MalariaWorld - the MW team.