Jay Currie

The main package of interventions Mr. Malunga offers (vaccinations, vitamin A, antenatal care, breastfeeding promotion and bed nets) was tested in a Canadian-funded pilot in 11 countries in West Africa and in 2003 was shown to reduce mortality by 20 per cent. Canada is the largest funder, globally, of both vaccinations against the killer childhood illnesses (at a cost of about $10 a child) and of vitamin A supplementation, which typically costs less than five cents a child but cuts mortality by 23 per cent.

Indeed, the most striking thing about these interventions, beyond how well they work, is that they are not, as the saying goes, brain surgery. They are ludicrously cheap and easy to deliver. Kenya, for example, cut child deaths from malaria by 44 per cent in the past four years simply by giving out for free bed nets that cost about $2. globe and mail

Before we go rushing off to make doubtful billion dollar investments in the doubtful “science” of global warming and CO2 reductions we might want to think about how many children a billion dollars in Vitamin A and bednets might save.

Which is what Bjorn Lomborg is driving at in his devastating opinion piece in the Washington Post today.

Bottom line: it is almost certainly cheaper and will save more lives to spend money on problems like childhood malaria than it is to spend much more money on carbon dioxide control measures which are unlikely to work in any event.