ANTI-MALARIA STATUS REPORT

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria founder Lance Laifer has emailed supporters a brief report on the organizations 2006 activities. Some highlights (my bold):

Malaria Free Zones

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria conceptualized the Malaria Free Zone project, recruited George Ayittey and the Free Africa Foundation to manage the rollout of malaria free zones throughout Africa, and raised the original $200,000 of seed money to establish the zones. During year one of the project, the Free Africa Foundation rolled out 12 malaria free zones exceeding the original target of three zones during year one.

Advocacy/DDT

During year one, Hedge Funds vs. Malaria partnered with Africa Fighting Malaria to help lead the global fight to reintroduce DDT as a primary intervention in the fight to prevent malaria. Nearly thirty years after phasing out the widespread use of indoor spraying with DDT and other insecticides to control malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) on September, 15, 2006 announced that this intervention will once again play a major role in its efforts to fight the disease. On April 25, 2007, Hedge Funds vs. Malaria will be holding its second event to benefit Africa Fighting Malaria, the world’s leading malaria advocacy group.

Dunk Malaria

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria conceived of the connection between basketball nets and bednets. Together with its partners, the New York Knicks and the United Nations Ministry of Sport, Dunk Malaria encouraged tens of thousands of people worldwide to dunk a basket against malaria and raise awareness of the emergency that is malaria.

Publicity

Hedge Funds vs. Malaria partnered with the Malaria Foundation International (MFI -
www.malaria.org) to raise public awareness of malaria with a series of conferences and the launch of the Malaria Awards Show an event created by Hedge Funds vs. Malaria. During 2006, MFI won the prestigious Media Tenor award for agenda setting.

It's worth noting that Laifer, who is actively involved in the fight against malaria, thinks very highly of Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM), calling it "the world’s leading malaria advocacy group." On the other hand, self-styled malaria expert Tim Lambert has condemned AFM as an execrable killer of babies more interested in embarrassing environmentalists than it is in fighting malaria:

And this is the problem that pro-DDT groups like Africa Fighting Malaria cause. If a health organization decides that bed nets are more effective, AFM will attack them and accuse them of giving in to environmentalists.

It's also interesting that Laifer has witnessed a major shift in the WHO's attitude to DDT, while Lamber denies any shift in policy at all. Perhaps Laifer should do a Lambert and sequester himself in his office so he can read up on the subject. Then he too can claim to be an armchair malaria expert.