Are high-tech solutions the answer?
Yesterday the Seattle Times ran a front page story on the Gates Foundation’s work to develop a malaria vaccine. People in poor nations have many needs, and it’s difficult to question the work of an organization that says it is committed to ending a disease that kills children.
However, towards the end of the article, William Muraskin, a health historian at City University of New York at City University of New York offers a criticism of the Gates Foundation’s approach. ”The Gates Foundation wants a big, showy breakthrough that saves lives. . . Who wouldn’t want that?” But, he asks, “where’s the benefit in saving a child from malaria, only to have her die from drinking dirty water?” Other critics say that they’d rather see the funding go into strengthening public health systems and improving water and sanitation services for the poor.
Read the full article here.