Malaria reminder

A useful reminder in today’s Wall Street Journal Europe (subscription required) about the scourge of malaria and how it can be solved by economic development. Evidently malaria afflicts half a billion people a year and kills a million of them. One way to deal with the disease it to spray DDT, a pesticide, but such action is vetoed by environmentalists. The article also quotes Roger Bate, of Africa Fighting Marlaria, explaining the link between fighting malaria and economic development:

“We eradicated malaria in Malaysia in the ’50s and ’60s, and in Singapore at the same time. It came back in Malaysia in the ’70s but not in Singapore, and the reason it came back is that there wasn’t enough wealth for people to have screens on the windows. Singapore’s economy, however, grew rapidly, and there isn’t a problem there anymore.”