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LETTERS: Felix I D Konotey-Ahulu Try public health measures in Africa too BMJ 2009; 338: b1971 [Full text]

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Public Health measures in Africa

george chew   (21 May 2009)

Response to Felix Konotey-Ahulu

Douglas J Buchanan   (27 May 2009)

Public Health measures in Africa 21 May 2009
george chew, retired UK , KT19 9QR Send response to journal: Re: Public Health measures in Africa	Partnership in Health care measures is what is needed in Africa.Foreign charity, medical and pharmaceutical chemicals heap more problems in the long run. "Do not give them fish, give them a rod to catch the fish". Public health measures have to be home grown to be acceptable and owned by the indigenous people. Competing interests: None declared
Response to Felix Konotey-Ahulu 27 May 2009
Douglas J Buchanan, Non Exec Director Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology NHS FT, Clatterbridge Road, Bebington Wirral CH63 4JY Send response to journal: Re: Response to Felix Konotey-Ahulu	I wish to respond to the letter from Felix Konotey-Ahulu on Malaria control in the current issue of the BMJ. My experience supports the view of Dr Konotey-Ahulu that environmental methods of malaria control in Africa are neglected by current practitioners. My interest in this subject stems from my years working as a surgeon and health manager with the mining company in Zambia. The mines were established mainly in the 1920s and 1930s in a region of Northern Rhodesia (now of course Zambia) along the border with Zaire. The region was notorious for high mortality from malaria. The most influential of the early investors was Alfred Chester Beatty. He recognised that a healthy and well fed labour force was in his own interests and commissioned the Ross Institute in 1929 to advise on and supervise public health measures principally for the control of malaria. These measures mainly depended on environmental control. The work carried out under the direction of Malcolm Watson were strikingly successful such that malaria ceased to pose a significant problem to the work force and their families. The work started in 1929 and continued up to the period when I worked for the mining company (1975-1986). I became interested in this effort and in particular the reasons that drove Beatty to make this investment. Accordingly when I retired in 2002 I enrolled in the MSc course in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester. My dissertation studied the history of malaria control on the Copperbelt of Northern Rhodesia. The full text can be found at www.doctors.net.uk/DocStore/DSView/Album.aspx?folderid=36999 Reference Buchanan D J Why did the investors in the Roan Antelope Mine in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) decide in 1929 to make an investment in Public Health when setting up the mine? A dissertation submitted to the University of Manchester . A part requirement for the degree of Master of Science September 2005 Competing interests: None declared