The Malaria Operation aims to reduce the malaria rates in Buyaya where 53% of deaths are caused by malaria. This is a terrible statistic and we are doing all we can to reduce it.
Bill Gates agrees. He is giving £30 million to a British research team to develop new insecticides. Have a look at that article and scroll to the bottom. You'll see this comment by "saberuscoe":
...and after you've saved them who is going to feed the increase in population. Its patently a pity the smart arses don't think this through, why should they; after the awards and gongs are allocated we the sucker taxpayer ends up paying the bill.
It's a good question.
Each year, one million people die from malaria. If we prevent those one million deaths (Heaven forbid!), who is going to feed them? Bill Gates? The taxpayer? Me? You? Saberuscoe?
Saberuscoe's question is flawed from the start. Decreasing malaria deaths doesn't increase the population: It decreases the population.
Put yourself in the shoes of a rurally poor African women. Who is going to care for you when you are old? The state won't provide, so your only option is your children. Your children are likely to die before they are five due to deadly combinations of malaria, HIV, dysentery, cholera...
So what are you going to do? You're going to have a bunch of children just in case some of them die.
If we can put confidence in the women's mind that her children aren't going to die by malaria, HIV, and so on, then she is likely to have less children, as who really wants to care for ten children?
Saberuscoe misses the point entirely. Saving lives reduces population levels. Not the other way around.
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