Training leaders for malaria fight
Discussing efforts to eradicate malaria globally, Ryan Williams of the World Health Organization (WHO) said: “Once you get started, you better not stop, or it will be worse than before.” Success would put malaria in a very exclusive club of human diseases. Only smallpox has been eliminated, though efforts are under way to rid the world of polio and guinea worm disease. A failed effort at eradication 50 years ago resulted in greater resistance to antimalarial drugs by the malaria parasite and increased resistance to pesticides by the mosquitoes that carry it, said Williams, who was among more than 60 mid-career officials who attended a 12-day leadership development course at Harvard Business School (HBS) focused on the eradication of malaria. The course, to run through June 11, is sponsored by Harvard University, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. Participants represent a wide array of organizations,...