Africa Fighting Malaria
Encyclopedia
Africa Fighting Malaria is an NGO based in Washington DC and South Africa
which states it "seeks to educate people about the scourge of Malaria
and the political economy of malaria control". The organization generally "promotes market based solutions and economic freedom as the best ways to ensure improved welfare and longer life expectancy in poor countries", according to their financial statement. Founded in 2000 during the Stockholm Negotiations on Persistent Organic Pollutants, AFM's original focus was the promotion of a public health exemption for the insecticide DDT for malaria control. According to their current website, their mission is to "make malaria control more transparent, responsive and effective by holding public institutions accountable for funding and implementing effective, integrated and country-driven malaria control policies." AFM has been characterized by liberal observers as a "right-wing" "propaganda machine."
and free market
think tank
s including the Competitive Enterprise Institute
, Institute of Economic Affairs
and Tech Central Station, organisations that are all critical of environment movements, as is AFM itself.
AFM promotes the pesticide DDT
as one of the most effective means of fighting malaria. It asserts that global health organizations must be free to employ all available tools to fight malaria and that the limited use of DDT for spraying homes and hospitals is a powerful and necessary tool in this fight. Based on a document authored by the AFM's founder Roger Bate
, critics argue that the group's motivation for promoting DDT has more to do with a careful crafted strategy to divide and discredit the environmental movement than it does with genuine concern for the health of Africans.
AFM ran a "Save Children From Malaria" campaign designed to prevent the Stockholm Convention
from banning the use of DDT. The coalition consisted of :
Funders listed on the AFM website include :
AFM has also received funding from:
Other sources of funding:
industry, which hoped to divert resources from efforts by the World Health Organization
to reduce smoking. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/action/search/basic?fd=0&q=%22Africa+Fighting+malaria%22&df=er&c=at&c=bw&c=ct&c=ll&c=pm&c=rj&c=ti&c=da&c=mg&c=ub&c=mm http://ltdlimages.library.ucsf.edu/imagesz/z/v/p/zvp83c00/Szvp83c00.pdf#search=%22roger%20malaria%20bate%22. Investigative reporter Adam Sarvana describes AFM as a "front group".
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
which states it "seeks to educate people about the scourge of Malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and the political economy of malaria control". The organization generally "promotes market based solutions and economic freedom as the best ways to ensure improved welfare and longer life expectancy in poor countries", according to their financial statement. Founded in 2000 during the Stockholm Negotiations on Persistent Organic Pollutants, AFM's original focus was the promotion of a public health exemption for the insecticide DDT for malaria control. According to their current website, their mission is to "make malaria control more transparent, responsive and effective by holding public institutions accountable for funding and implementing effective, integrated and country-driven malaria control policies." AFM has been characterized by liberal observers as a "right-wing" "propaganda machine."
Overview and History
Formed in 2000, AFM's staff members have current or former links with a range of right-wingRight-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
and free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
s including the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit think tank founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C. by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government...
, Institute of Economic Affairs
Institute of Economic Affairs
The Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...
and Tech Central Station, organisations that are all critical of environment movements, as is AFM itself.
AFM promotes the pesticide DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
as one of the most effective means of fighting malaria. It asserts that global health organizations must be free to employ all available tools to fight malaria and that the limited use of DDT for spraying homes and hospitals is a powerful and necessary tool in this fight. Based on a document authored by the AFM's founder Roger Bate
Roger Bate
Roger Bate is an economist who has held a variety of positions in free market, libertarian, and conservative think tanks and lobby groups promoting anti-regulatory, pro-business causes. His current work focuses on counterfeit and substandard medicines, particularly those in the developing world. ...
, critics argue that the group's motivation for promoting DDT has more to do with a careful crafted strategy to divide and discredit the environmental movement than it does with genuine concern for the health of Africans.
AFM ran a "Save Children From Malaria" campaign designed to prevent the Stockholm Convention
Stockholm Convention
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty, signed in 2001 and effective from May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants .- History :...
from banning the use of DDT. The coalition consisted of :
- Competitive Enterprise InstituteCompetitive Enterprise InstituteThe Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit think tank founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C. by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government...
- Africa Fighting Malaria
- European Science and Environment ForumEuropean Science and Environment ForumThe European Science and Environment Forum , now defunct, called itself "an independent, non-profit-making alliance of scientists whose aim is to ensure that scientific debates are properly aired, and that decisions which are taken, and action that is proposed, are founded on sound scientific...
- Liberty InstituteLiberty Institute (Georgia)Liberty Institute is a Georgian research and advocacy organization affiliated with Ilia Chavchavadze State University.Liberty has always been the cornerstone of established Georgian values. It has been transformed into classical liberal tradition by Ilia Chavchavadze...
- Center for Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (CEDICE)
Efficacy
In June 2010, blogger Ed Darrell attempted to find AFM projects that actually reduce malaria infections in Africa. After examining AFM's own reports, tax records, and searching the internet, Darrell concluded that "the major purpose of AFM is to pay [founder] Roger Bate about $100,000 a year for part of the time, and pay [director] Richard Tren more than $80,000 a year for the rest of the time."Funding
On its website AFM states that it "receives its funding from a number of different sources, however because of the nature of our work we have a policy of not accepting funds from any government, the insectcides industry or the pharmaceutical industry".Funders listed on the AFM website include :
- Anglo American Chairman's Fund - a miningMiningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
corporation. - BHP Billiton plc - a mining corporation.
- The Earhart FoundationEarhart FoundationThe Earhart Foundation is a private charitable foundation that funds research and scholarship. It was founded in 1929 by oil executive Harry Boyd Earhart.- History :...
- Hedge Funds vs. Malaria & PneumoniaHedge Funds vs. Malaria & PneumoniaHedge Funds vs. Malaria & Pneumonia is an advocacy group that encourages innovative ideas to treat and prevent malaria and pneumonia worldwide. Hedge Funds vs. Malaria officially changed its name from Hedge Funds vs. Malaria & Pheumonia in order to recognize the fact that pneumonia is the largest...
- The Ohrstrom Foundation
- The Thiel Foundation
- The Swordspoint Foundation
AFM has also received funding from:
- Exxon Mobil
Other sources of funding:
- Legatum Institute
Links to tobacco industry
Documents in the Legacy Tobacco Document Archive http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/ show that in the planning stages AFM unsuccessfully sought the support of the tobaccoTobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
industry, which hoped to divert resources from efforts by the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
to reduce smoking. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/action/search/basic?fd=0&q=%22Africa+Fighting+malaria%22&df=er&c=at&c=bw&c=ct&c=ll&c=pm&c=rj&c=ti&c=da&c=mg&c=ub&c=mm http://ltdlimages.library.ucsf.edu/imagesz/z/v/p/zvp83c00/Szvp83c00.pdf#search=%22roger%20malaria%20bate%22. Investigative reporter Adam Sarvana describes AFM as a "front group".
Staff
- Roger BateRoger BateRoger Bate is an economist who has held a variety of positions in free market, libertarian, and conservative think tanks and lobby groups promoting anti-regulatory, pro-business causes. His current work focuses on counterfeit and substandard medicines, particularly those in the developing world. ...
- A fellow of the American Enterprise InstituteAmerican Enterprise InstituteThe American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
and Competitive Enterprise InstituteCompetitive Enterprise InstituteThe Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit think tank founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C. by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government...
, and founder of the European Science and Environment ForumEuropean Science and Environment ForumThe European Science and Environment Forum , now defunct, called itself "an independent, non-profit-making alliance of scientists whose aim is to ensure that scientific debates are properly aired, and that decisions which are taken, and action that is proposed, are founded on sound scientific...
. - Lorraine Mooney - Previously director of the European Science and Environment ForumEuropean Science and Environment ForumThe European Science and Environment Forum , now defunct, called itself "an independent, non-profit-making alliance of scientists whose aim is to ensure that scientific debates are properly aired, and that decisions which are taken, and action that is proposed, are founded on sound scientific...
. - Francois Maartens
- Carlos Odora
- Richard TrenRichard TrenRichard Tren is Director of Africa Fighting Malaria, an analyst for the Free Market Foundation, and a Research Fellow of the Environment Unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs.He writes frequently for Tech Central Station.-Books:...
- Director. Also a fellow of the Institute of Economic AffairsInstitute of Economic AffairsThe Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...
, and analyst for the Free Market Foundation. - Jasson Urbach - South African Director. Also affiliated with the Free Market Foundation
Board
- Roger Bate
- Richard Tren
- Lance Laifer - co-founder of Hegde Fund vs. Malaria & Pneumonia
- Gerry Ohrstrom - of the Ohrstrom Foundation, Inc. Also affiliated with the Reason FoundationReason FoundationThe Reason Foundation is an American nonprofit think tank founded in 1978 that also publishes Reason magazine. Based in Los Angeles, Reason is self-described as nonpartisan and publishes a statement of values that can best be described as libertarian...
, the Property and Environment Research CenterProperty and Environment Research CenterThe Property and Environment Research Center, or PERC, is a free market environmentalist think tank based in Bozeman, Montana, United States. Established in 1982 as the Political Economy Research Center, PERC is dedicated to original research on market approaches to resolving environmental problems...
, the International Policy NetworkInternational Policy NetworkThe International Policy Network is a global think tank headquartered in the City of London. It defines itself as a non-partisan, non-profit organization, but has also been described as a "corporate-funded campaigning group"...
, and the American Council on Science and HealthAmerican Council on Science and HealthThe American Council on Science and Health is a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 by Dr. Elizabeth Whelan that produces peer-reviewed reports on issues related to food, nutrition, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health...
. - Donald Roberts - an emeritus professor of tropical public health at the Uniformed Services University of the Health SciencesUniformed Services University of the Health SciencesThe Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences is a health science university run by the U.S. federal government. The primary mission of the school is to prepare graduates for service to the U.S. at home and abroad in the medical corps....
.