Malaria Metaphors

To conquer malaria, a society must become somewhat stable.
To solve the problem, it must be attacked from multiple angles
simultaneously. Below, I've illustrated a metaphor for segmenting
the malaria issue into distinct units. Of course, the units can
be divided in many different ways, but this is my first attempt. :)

The conquest of Malaria is similar to building a stable stool to sit on.
If you're missing any leg, the stool is unstable. Therefore, it is important
to work on each leg, or aspect.




















Each leg can be further subdivided into more detailed units. The doweling (that connects the legs together) can be thought of as dependencies or cross-pollinators.



















Malaria is considered a vector disease since the number of infections is directly effected by the number of primary infection carriers (in this case mosquitoes). More mosquitoes, more malaria cases. Simple.

Vector control attempts to either reduce the number of mosquitoes, or reduce the bad interactions with the mosquitoes. Solutions can include:

1. Education - existing technologies such as bed nets are not used probably more than 50% of the time. Perhaps some games can be developed to get kids excited about using bed nets at night.

2. Education - more health care staff are need to give mothers proper training for bed net use.

3. Incentive - perhaps give parents incentive to use the proper bed net procedures. Extra bedding or clothing perhaps.

4. Education - encourage specialists from nations who have defeated malaria (ie. Italy) come to communities that have be devastated by it to give hope to the locals.

5. R&D - issue Web 2.0 challenges for alternative vector control methods.

6. New systems - solar powered mosquito repellers (acoustic based?) combind with mosquito attractors. one can attach many mosquitoes into one location and then cull them.

7. Appeal to 1st world nations for more empathy and support. Perhaps commercials such as Stephen Lewis's foundation HIV/AIDs can be employed. another thought... a mother and child die every 5 seconds of Malaria - could be a spot for a TV commercial - picture a north american playground with many young families... every 5 secs, a mother and child fade out - appeal for monetary and other support.






















Possible solutions for Good Governance:

1. Educate the political leaders. Create a government 2.0 network of world leaders. Sounds crazy but you never know.

2. Create a specialized wikigoverment applications that all the leading thinkers of the world can moderate. Amazing solutions sometimes come from the most unlikely people. wikigovernment can harness those rare resourses.

3. Improve human rights for women by targeting them to become local business leaders. Kiva can be used to startup some small business. Business can start off related to fighting malaria (ie. for drugs or bed nets).

4. Create an informed citizen base (so that they can keep their leaders honest). Use of radio, orators (old style), or possibly internet (100 dollar laptop).

5. Build health infrastructure at all costs, even in the worst malarial zones. If malaria is controlled in a few places but not in others, it'll rise again.


















Won't elaborate too much here... please refer to diagram. :)