World Health Organization: Nothing 
Can Be Done To Stop African Epidemics!
by Linda de Hoyos
Executive Intelligence Review 1992

The World Bank has announced that it expects a decrease of the average life expectancy in Africa from 62 to 48 years. This shocking figure, blandly reported by the wire services, testifies to the inaction by international agencies in the face of epidemics sweeping the African continent.

At the end of October, the World Health Organization declared that it is giving up its attempt to eradicate malaria, and is now seeking only to contain the disease, the Reuters news agency reports.

The WHO's new policy was adopted at a two-day conference in Amsterdam during the last week of October. Malaria is probably the world's biggest co-factor with HIV for AIDS. Chronic malaria suppresses the immune system, and 1-2 million people die every year from malaria.

"Attempts to wipe out the mosquito carrier, pursued for 50 years with poor results, will be made only in areas where there is a realistic chance of success," the conference concluded.

Actually, the malaria mosquito was eradicated in many areas in the 1960s, and the rest of the world was on track to do the same through the use of the pesticide DDT, which saved millions of people from death. But the Malthusians forced the ban of DDT in the United States in 1972, which immediately reversed the decline in mosquitoes and malaria deaths. (See EIR's cover story of June 19, 1992, "Save the Planet's Humans--Lift the Ban on DDT!")

It is only by 1995 that the WHO expects to have accurate figures on the number of malaria cases. The conference heard that the malaria strain now found in Thailand and Cambodia is showing resistance to all the drugs widely available to treat it. WHO officials expressed concern at the lack of interest on the part of western drug companies in finding new drugs.

In Africa, each year approximately 800,000 Africans, mainly the poor, are killed by malaria, the conference was told. Another 80 million Africans contract the disease, but survive. According to Alan Schapira, medical officer at the WHO, "There is an unfair accusation that things cannot get done in Africa because of disorganization. But even the toughest colonial-type administration, given the African ecology, would not get far against these [mosquito] species." Malaria is responsible for 20-30% of all deaths of children under five in Africa.

The new WHO strategy is to focus on earlier diagnosis and fast treatment.

The continent-wide disease picture is amplified by the following news items:

Kenya: "If there is anything that could wipe out Kenya's population, it is AIDS," said Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi. He was quoted in German newspapers, in coverage of a dramatic increase in the number of people sick with AIDS. According to WHO figures, every 40th African is infected with the HIV virus, compared to every 250th person worldwide.

Zaire: By the beginning of September, 191 cases of plague (bubonic, pulmonary, and septicemic) had been reported to the WHO, and 78 deaths from the disease. This was reported in WHO's {Weekly Epidemiological Record.}

Tanzania: Since the beginning of the year, 4,279 cases of cerebrospinal meningitis have been reported, with 451 deaths. The number of cases has increased rapidly since March. 

Burundi: The health minister of this East African country announced the closing of primary schools due to the meningitis epidemic. "The increase of the epidemic in only a few weeks is frightening," the minister said, in a national radio speech. In that period, more than 1,200 cases of meningitis have been reported, and 207 patients have died.