Nets and Masks

So far, I've avoided Covid-19. But I can't help comparing it to malaria, which I survived 40 years ago while teaching math in Kenya after college.

Malaria is a consistent killer. Hundreds of thousands die each year, three-fourths of which are younger than five years old. Little kids. Little African kids, mostly. And that, unfortunately, is one of the reasons insufficient research has been done on ways to combat it.

Research isn't cheap. Most work is collaborative, and the work requires facilities, salaries, and equipment. (The solitary genius is mostly a myth.)
Which research is supported depends upon the values of the people, organizations, and governments that control funding. Two-year-old African kids simply aren't valued much, not in terms of dollars spent on their well-being. No malaria vaccine is yet approved.

But there has been progress. According to Our World in Data, "from 2000 to 2015 the number of malaria deaths has almost halved, from 840,000 deaths per year to 440,000." That's without any vaccine. How did it happen?

The authors of a study published in the top science journal Nature, estimated that two-thirds of the reduction in cases of malaria were due to insecticide-treated bed nets. According to the CDC Foundation, such nets, with long-lasting insecticide and sized to protect three kids, cost $5. That we aren't handing them out like beads at Mardi Gras says a lot about what we value. Or don't.

A net to save a child or a mask to save grandma. Simple things. Cheap. And an immediate help while we wait on vaccines. While many conservatives speak out in support of the sanctity of life, many liberals speak out in support of protecting the poor and vulnerable. If both groups mean what they say, then perhaps nets and masks can offer areas of potential agreement.