I just found out from reading "Under the Acacia" blog, that today is Africa Malaria Day. It's hard to overstate how devastating this disease has become in Africa, and how frustrating it is that the main reason that this is so, is simple, painful poverty. Most African people cannot afford $2 for a malaria net, let alone the cost of anti-malarial medications. (Please go to Keith's site for a brief overview and for some possible solutions and the obstacles that hinder good efforts.)
As someone who has just finished one course of anti-malarial medicine and is starting another for a trip to the rainforest in Belize, I am grateful that I can afford it. Without the drugs, I wouldn't be able to visit such places, let alone take my family. But I am now more and more keenly aware of all those who don't have the means or options.
No call to action from me here. (I don't feel qualified to offer such opinions just yet) just a desire to be more aware of how many ways poverty kills.
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