Here's the presentations!

This picture, taken outside a school near Axum, Tigray, Ethiopia in 2005, captures the feeling and optimism at the workshop! David Rogers, thanks for the photo from your presentation!

Phil Thornton - Where are we heading with climate science projections for improving infectious disease response?

Andrew Githeko - How can we get the knowledge benefit from recent advances in climate science and observation? Botswana case study

Stephen Connor - How can we get the knowledge benefit from recent advances in climate science and observation? Ethiopia case study

Andrew Githeko - From concept to practice: Developing the malaria epidemic prediction

Jeff Mariner: Lessons learnt from the HPAI response

John Waibochi - Community 'Digital Villages' concept

David Rogers - Science and development: The bigger picture (this is a big 6.7MB file)

Economists and greens now talking ‘adaptation’

An article in this week’s Economist (UK) reports that environmentalists and economists are now coming round to the idea of adaptation rather than just talking about climate change prevention. This new focus on 'coping' is manifesting in a number of private and public sector projects. But even if poor countries do get adaptation money, there will be tough choices over how to use it. For example, if infectious diseases are rising, do you spend money trying to eradicate the worst ones, like malaria, or do you spend it on health and nutrition in general? No doubt everyone will be divided over the ‘right answer’.

Onesmo on eradicating malaria

Onesmo ole MoiYoi talks about eradicating malaria and believes that it can be done. In fact he says it's already been greatly controlled in the highlands of Kenya, where we haven't had an epidemic since 2003.

'The burden of disease in sub-Saharan African countries contributes greatly to the continent's underdevelopment. Diseases conspire with malnutrition to weaken Africa's populations.'

'A child dies every 30 seconds of malaria in Africa. In hyper-malaria areas, 25% of household income is pent on treating malaria.

'We need to keep mosquitoes from flying. To do that we need to involve the communities fighting malaria in our research and control programs.

'We are failing because of linear thinking. Linear thinking is characteristic of the pharmaceutical industry and malaria researchers.

'We are always going after "a" solution. What we need is a holistic strategy.'

Four things you need to control malaria: 1. destroy breeding sites. 2. nets 3. get affordable drugs into the hands of people who need them. .4. community driven actions;

The Roll Back Malaria campaign which began in 2000 had all the information needed in its Abuja Declaration. It didn't suceed because at the country level that knowledge wasn't translated into actions.'

He concludes: 'I am convinced that we can control malaria with the tools we have, without waiting for a new vaccine or drugs.

'So why are we failing after 25 years? I think it's because we don't have a holistic strategy!'

The Start

So, the workshop hasn't even started yet---I'm just at the drinks / get together on Monday evening ---and I'm looking forward to hear about "cool" new technology stuff from the google gang and others and the first thing I hear is a story from West Africa circa 1910 (isn't that always the way). David Rogers (pictured on the left) is telling me about a British colonial medical officer in Accra named Ronald Ross, famous as a malaria modeller, who noticed standing water in villages led to mosquito and malaria outbreaks. So he built storm drains and fixed the problem! Listening intently to this conversation was Chris Woods (pictured on the right), who this summer got his OBE from the Queen! He's a brother of Sir Michael Woods - both started AMREF - a flying doctor service, some one hundred years ago :) (a third brother named Martin invented MRI in the UK as a hobby. And I start to wonder---is there anything new coming out of Africa? Anything new for Africa?