$10__ 5 people__ 2 years

[underpants]

http://www.nothingbutnets.net/

$10 buys a treated mosquito net that will last a family of 5 for 2 years

Skip lunch! ..$10 can save buy a net and save a family
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/underpants/92



In the poorest parts of the world, where effective window screens are lacking, insecticide-treated bed nets are arguably the most cost-effective way to prevent malaria transmission. One bed net costs just $10 to buy and deliver to individuals in need. One bed net can safely last a family for about four years, thanks to a long-lasting insecticide woven into the net fabric.

Studies show that use of insecticide-treated bed nets can reduce transmission as much as 90% in areas with high coverage rates. Bed nets prevent malaria transmission by creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur. The African malaria mosquitoes generally bite late at night or early morning, between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. A bed net is usually hung above the center of a bed or sleeping space so that it completely covers the sleeping person. A net treated with insecticide offers about twice the protection of an untreated net and can reduce the number of mosquitoes that enter the house and the overall number of mosquitoes in the area.

[gateley]

1. K&R! nt

[Parche]

2. $10

Buys me a six pack of Heineken


So there :P :P :P :P

:woohoo:

:hi:

[Muttocracy]

3. Heard Jeffrey Sachs speak about it a few years ago

thanks for the link.

A Scientific American article:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=ending-africa-malaria-deaths-extended&sc=I100322

[Warpy]

4. It's amazing how little money it can take to change lives

One organization takes donations to give rabbits, chickens, and other small livestock to kids in the third world. One girl got a goat some years ago and is now studying via scholarship at Oxford, something she wouldn't have been able to do had the goat's milk not paid for her primary and secondary education in Africa.

A ten dollar net can keep both parents and children from being infected by malaria, which means the parents will take better care of the kids and the kids will be able to function in school.

Twenty five dollars a pop can help people in the third world get microloans from $250-2500 from Kiva.org and that is enough to get many of them out of poverty only the homeless in the US can relate to.

Not to leave us out, five dollars to a homeless person will buy alcohol and a cheap fast food sandwich, keeping him alive one more day, another day that might be the difference in getting help and saving himself or dying on the street of untreated DTs.

No matter how awful your own financial situation is, there is always someone worse off than you are. One way to get the world back from the ugliness the plutocracy has created is to be as good to each other as we can be.

[underpants]

5. River blindness treatments are ridiculously low

I can't find any info on it in a quick search but I heard Carter talk about how the cost of treating it was like 5 cents maybe 25 cents per person. Amazingly low.

Affects millions of people every year.

http://www.cartercenter.org/health/river_blindness/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/DPD/PARASITES/onchocerciasis/factsht_onchocerciasis.htm

[Warpy]

10. That's one of the things Doctors Without Borders does

and it's why that organization is getting whatever I leave when I kick the bucket.

[underpants]

11. Don't get pissed

but look what OUR Attorney General Mukasey said yesterday

I have not stopped being amazed by these people :eyes::grr::mad:



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Crime groups operating as "mobsters without borders" have gained significant footholds in global markets and provide logistic support to terrorists, the United States said on Wednesday.

Launching a campaign against such international criminals, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said they were more adaptable and sophisticated than La Cosa Nostra and other syndicates the U.S. government set out to defeat half a century ago.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3200447&mesg_id=3200447

[Warpy]

12. He's describing his rotten party

and yes, it's degenerated into a racketeering organization.

As for the "without borders," DWB didn't originate the phrase and they don't have exclusive ownership.

I'm only pissed off at Mukasey's selective blindness to the corruption he represents.

[LanternWaste]

6. It's tough sometimes...

It's tough sometimes...

When I've paid my utilities and rent for the month and have some goodies in the pantry and the refrigerator, I'll sometimes allow myself the small indulgence of buying a DVD or a PC game.

A day or two later, I'll realize that what was to me only a "small" indulgence could have been much better used and to a far, far greater effect if given to a program such as is mentioned in the OP or in your response.

Although I joke about living in genteel poverty and picturesque squalor sometimes, I imagine that my life is the stuff of royal dreams to half of the world's population.

It becomes impossible for me to justify those "small" indulgences I take at the eventual expense of others... but I take them anyway.




Just rambling on about passive guilt, I guess....

[Warpy]

9. Don't be guilty

because our spirits will die if they're not fed, just like our bodies will if they're not fed.

You do what you can, and if what you can do after you've taken care of yourself on all levels is a quarter to a homeless person, that's OK.

I'm lucky right now because I can do more than that, and that's the biggest joy in freedom from money worries, the ability to give it away. I was desperately poor for a while and understand the guilt in looking at all the worthy causes out there I couldn't contribute to.

However, there was always a homeless guy somewhere selling Street News, so there was always someplace to give any pocket change I had left over at the end of the month.

I always thought the difference between genteel poverty and utter squalor was the ability to give something back, no matter how small.

[flashl]

8. Wholeheartedly agree, the answer IS "be as good to each other as we can be". nt

[Solly Mack]

7. Thanks! Will do