Mr. Shikwati said, “I get all these letters, ‘I saw the children with flies in their eyes — how can you be so cruel?’ ” He responds with the calm of true belief: “We have to stop looking for other people to save us. We need to look for ways to save ourselves.”
Mr. Shikwati is hoping to do just that here in Bukura with a plan to fight malaria, a disease that kills 800,000 African children a year. He is not just running a think tank, he said, but a “do tank,” too, since he said Africans will buy his theories only after they see results. One theory is that business, not aid, can best fight poverty and disease.
To prove it, he is trying to commercialize the anti-malaria effort by hiring Bukura youths to spray homes with pesticides. For about 75 cents, villagers can get an introductory treatment, with subsequent sprayings running $4.25 every six months. That is twice the average daily wage of a Kenyan laborer, but cheaper than the $17 it takes to treat a malaria case here.As the business grows, Mr. Shikwati sees a dawning cycle of virtue: medical savings will buy fertilizer and seed; profits from the fields will bankroll businesses; and the emerging proto-middle class will lobby the government for freer markets, reinforcing the prosperity loop.
Mr. Shikwati describes his work as not just a think tank, but a "do tank".
Too often, US foreign aid goes to corrupt dictators, never reaching the people, and discouraging individual initiative. This is a better way, sustainable in the long run.
Jeff Sachs, quoted in the article, is one of my Harvard classmates. I heard him speak on a globalization panel at my 25th reunion, 5 years ago. He was concerned about the spread of disease, especially AIDS, a valid concern, but talked about top down approaches. One gentleman in the audience of alums rose, identified himself as from a developing country, and said please do not forget about simple basic needs such as clean water, and killing disease-bearing mosquitoes.
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