By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: October 23, 2009

In its largest single malaria undertaking, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced Friday that Nigeria would receive grants worth $285 million over two years to distribute 30 million antimalarial bed nets. It will also provide enough medicine for 56 million malaria treatments. There are an estimated 57 million cases of malaria in Nigeria annually, and 225,000 deaths from the disease, nearly all of them of children under age 5

Once again, the wrong solution to a simple problem.

We know that the female anopheles mosquito carries the malaria. So a real solution would focus attention on the mosquito.

Most cases of malaria-related deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. As high as ninety percent. In other words, the poorest nations are the ones that spend the most on malaria drugs.

So, Nigeria receives $285 million for two years for mosquito nets and drugs for two years. For crying out loud, what happens after two years when the money runs out? We'd be back to square one.

Actually, if I knew anything about Nigeria, I would say that most of that money is going straight into a few people's pockets, rather than used to assist people.

If you really want to battle malaria, then study the life cycle of the anopheles mosquito. Find a way to disrupt that life cycle. Or find a way to genetically alter the malaria parasite - Plasmodium falciparum.

Equally as important is for us to look at how mosquitoes spread. They need a stagnant body of water to proliferate. Everywhere you go, you find open gutters, and running water on the streets. Perfect environment for the mosquito to flourish.

How about we change our lifestyles and get rid of such open bodies of waters? If mosquitoes can't grow, they can't infect people. Simple solution, but no action toward implementing it.

Nigeria has a very poor track record at problem-solving. We love quickie solutions. How about approaching problems in such a way as to get them solved for real.