Malaria Mistakes
Written by Andrea Siegel to
The New York Times, October 5, 2006
Tina Rosenberg’s op-ed offered an upbeat interpretation of the United States government decision to reintroduce the spraying of DDT to fight malaria in Africa.

Dear Editor:
Regarding “The Revival of a Notorious Solution to a Notorious Scourge” by Tina Rosenberg (op-ed, October 5, 2006). Rosenberg misses a key point. Malaria is very complex. Malaria in the United States, Southern Europe, Asia and Latin America was very different from the malaria that occurrs throughout Sub Saharan Africa. Many different types of malaria occur within each country, and the treatment for each type is different. Further, it is a mistaken assumption that there is proper infrastructure in theese countries to deliver DDT properly in a controlled, consistent and safe manner. Insecticide treated bed nets have not been adequately and properly tried, in conjunction with proper malaria education. First, what people need is basic education.

—Andrea Siegel
—Woodside, Queens

EDITOR’S NOTE
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) are a form of personal protection that has repeatedly been shown to reduce severe disease and mortality due to malaria in endemic regions. In community-wide trials in several African settings, ITNs have been showon to reduce all-cause mortality by about 20%.”

For information, see The Center for Disease Control’s information on insecticide-treated bed nets and a pertinent 2001 article in the British Medical Journal.