A Cortez man was part of a recent university discussion concerning malaria in Ethiopia.
Boston University conducted a workshop Dec. 15-16 where scientists discussed their findings at the Pardee Center for Study of the Longer-range Future. Their work included five years of field research during which they found a link between a new hybrid variety of maize, and local outbreaks of malaria. Maize (corn) is a staple food in Ethiopia and many other countries in Africa.
William Jobin, who is the author of a recent book on water quality of the Dolores River, and resides in Cortez with his family, gave a lecture at the workshop.
According to a press release, Jobin proposed adding ecological and engineering approaches to current medical methods, in order to improve the fight against malaria. He recommended that the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group require disease prevention components in their water, agricultural, hydropower and urban development projects in Africa, including healthy housing designs and water management for mosquito control.
About 60 scientists and teachers attended the lecture, including faculty and students from MIT, Bentley, Harvard and Yale universities, as well those from Boston University.
Initially studying civil engineering at MIT and then tropical public health at Harvard, Jobin began his career with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Since 1963 he has worked extensively with the World Health Organization and the World Bank in Africa.
Recently he helped start the U.S. Presidential Malaria Initiative in Angola. After fighting malaria in Sudan for five years with WHO, he formed Blue Nile Associates in 1984, and also consults on tropical disease prevention and aquatic ecology. This June he was invited by the African Development Bank in Tunisia to brief them on healthy ways to develop African water resources. He has authored two recent books by Boston Harbor Publishers on malaria and on dams, as well as two on water quality in rivers of Massachusetts and Colorado.
Jobin said the recession now threatens the fight against malaria. Limited resources of the World Health Organization were supplemented by creation of a Global Fund in 2002. When PMI began in 2005, a more robust attack on malaria started. New hope was born as PMI spread to 15 African countries, the press release said. But the rather ephemeral methods of WHO and PMI now face severe funding cuts. Additional opportunities for fighting malaria on a permanent ecological basis were outlined by Jobin. He saw opportunities in the increasing assistance being given by the international banks to develop water resources in Africa for better food and energy security. Jobin described design and operational features for dams, irrigation and drainage systems, along with careful selection of crops, that will permanently reduce malaria and other diseases. Jobin also said that new control efforts can be developed in urban areas, increasingly favorable sites for malaria suppression. Jobin asserted that these additional ecologic methods will make suppression of malaria transmission more affordable for Africa, and sustainable.