Killer buzz

I'm not talking about the effect of alcohol here. I'm talking about that really annoying buzzing mosquito that decides to make its way to your ear just as you're dozing off at night. Well thankfully for you and me it's not deadly. But now that I'm going to malaria-infested territory, I'll need take all precautions!

So I'll be using a net above my bed at night. But what about during the day? 

I'm just thankful I have the means to protect myself. And I'm also depending on the fact that I've always repelled mosquitos in the past (good thing it's not my sister going because she'd be undoubtedly sucked bloodless). But Ghana in general has got it bad... I totally agree with the Financial Times:

"The World Health Organisation's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health recently estimated that Ghana and other countries in the malarial zone needed to spend about Dollars 35 or Dollars 40 per person a year just to meet the essential health need of their population - keeping workers healthy enough to work. Yet Ghana can afford only about Dollars 10. So it takes an extra Dollars 30 per person for 20m people, just to keep Ghanaians fit to work. But that's a half-billion dollars that Ghana does not have to spend on health care or other basic needs. Its people are living on less than a dollar a day. They cannot, willy-nilly, hand over about a month's earnings for health or anything else.

The consequence is simple. Ghana and other poor sub-Saharan countries do not, and cannot, make it on their own. They need financial infusions from the west for health care and other basic investments that would set the stage for growth. Given an initial boost, Ghana's pro-growth attributes could take over. But Ghana needs that boost. If the west, smugly clinging to nostrums of boot-strap capitalism, sits back and watches Ghana fail, its neighbours will fail as well. Ghana is one of sub-Saharan Africa's best shots at success. Ghana's shot at success will remain remote until rich countries come to its rescue."

So what can you and I do about this? Yes, good books can improve lives, shape lives, even change lives. But it isn't very often that a book has the power to save a life.

EVERY COPY SAVES LIVES. BUY THE BOOK AND TWEET ABOUT IT.