Promising New Drug May Cure Malaria 190
Diggester writes "Researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have developed a pill that can wipe out malaria with a single dose. It's a development that could save millions of lives in Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the world. But there's a teensy weensy little hurdle that must first be overcome: human testing. According to National Geographic, 'Clinical tests are scheduled for the end of 2013. If this tablet is approved in coming years, this achievement will surely usher in a new age for science in Africa. It will save millions upon millions of lives on the continent, helping avoid at least 24 percent of child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.'"
Re:Unless you can give everyone birth control.... (Score:3, Interesting)
No, more tourists and less malaria will result in a population exploding until it starts to get slowed down by starvation again.
Seriously. What is needed is education and control facilities, and a complete reversal of the hilariously ridiculous idea that endless exponential growth is the ideal to strive for (that goes for the entire world, not just Africa).
Productivity boom (Score:2, Interesting)
Beyond the savings in human lives, there should be a productivity boom. Malaria is contracted periodically in adulthood by people in an environment where it is prevalent, and it can wipe out an individual's productivity for a couple weeks at a time, several times a year. In some areas, it can be contracted with the same frequency with which westerners are used to the common cold. So, you're looking at perhaps a 10% increase in productivity just from keeping adults at work instead of in their sickbed or tending sick children.