Now there is a war worth waging

The IHT reports on a war, of a different and positive kind, well worth waging - and whch should engage all people of goodwill around the globe....

"On the previous night, Mekonnen had slept under a mosquito net for the first time in his life, as part of a [Jimmy] Carter initiative to wipe out malaria and elephantiasis in this region. And Mekonnen now uses an outhouse as a result of a Carter Center initiative to build 350,000 outhouses in rural Ethiopia to defeat blindness from trachoma.

Carter has almost managed to wipe out one horrific ailment — Guinea worm — and is making great strides against others, including river blindness and elephantiasis. In this area, people are taking an annual dose of a medicine called Mectizan — donated by Merck, which deserves huge credit — that prevents itching and blindness.

Mectizan also gets rid of intestinal worms, leaving Ethiopian villagers stronger and more able to work or attend school. Among adults, the deworming revives sex drive, so some people have named their children Mectizan.

Carter's private campaign against the diseases of poverty, put together with pennies and duct tape, is a model of what the U.S. government could do. Imagine if the United States resolved that it would wipe out malaria and elephantiasis (both are spread by mosquitoes, so a combined campaign makes sense). What if we Americans celebrated science not by trying to go to Mars but by extinguishing malaria? What if we tried to burnish America's image abroad not only with press releases and propaganda broadcasts, but also with a bold campaign against disease?"

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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