The Ugandan newspaper New Vision writes that controversy is still raging about whether Uganda should adopt Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS – indendørs sprøjtning) of the chemical DDT to kill mosquitoes and reduce the incidence of malaria.
Government is keen to proceed but environmentalists are bitterly opposed. Malaria kills over 70.000 children annually in Uganda. An average Ugandan family spends 10 percent of its income treating malaria, and rising to 25 percent in the case of the poorest families.
The daily writes that there is a huge economic benefit if Ugandans are not regularly incapacitated by malaria and can be more productive workers and farmers. However, there is an economic risk that if DDT contaminated Ugandan agricultural produce, then foreign markets like the EU might refuse Ugandan food exports.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
