Thursday, June 29, 2006

Business Joins African Effort to Cut Malaria - New York Times

Business Joins African Effort to Cut Malaria - New York Times (Registration required.)

The international mining company Billiton joined with the government of Mozambique to control malaria in a region the size of Kentucky surrounding its massive aluminum smelter near Maputo. Six years later, "wielding a combination of new medicines, better bed nets, old-fashioned pesticides and computer analysis to clean up the most afflicted areas, the smelter and its partners in business and government have turned malaria in one of its former hot spots into a manageable threat."

"The government of Equatorial Guinea and two American oil companies created a similar program three years ago on Bioko Island, whose offshore oil reserves are a magnet for foreign investors. In the June issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, researchers reported initial declines in infection rates there as well."

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