1:58
But the, the combination of malaria and
extreme poverty is a deadly combination still today.
>> Hello.
I am so delighted to be here.
And you will be delighted to be here after you hear the wonderful
panel that we have for you.
Especially to start off, with Congressman Meeks, who is
just such an inspiration when you're talking about malaria.
It's going to be a real treat to hear from him.
My name is Deb Derrick and I come from the
Friends for the Global fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria.
We represent the Global Fund in Washington, DC.
And for those of you who don't know, the Global Fund is the world's
largest health financier.
Provides more than $3 billion a year to fight malaria, TB, and AIDS.
And again, just delighted to be here and to be at this panel on malaria.
So, there have been tremendous advances in malaria.
For those of you who haven't heard about this yet, there's been
in the last decade or so about a 25% reduction in mortality globally
in malaria, even as the world's population has grown.
And so just without further ado, I'd like to turn
to Congressman Meeks, who is a long-term member of Congress.
He's a ranking person on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
He's also a co-chair of the House Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Caucus.
And the first thing that I'd like to
say is you are such when, when you get in front of audiences, you really inspire
people with your work on malaria. How did you get excited about it yourself?
>> Well, when you know that you can make a difference, and you can
see that difference, and you know that it just takes some hard work and commitment.
And you can eradicate this horrible disease.
We've done it before and we can do it now if we stay focused.
And so that excites you when you know that you can see the actual results of
your work just by educating people, and getting
people involved, and making sure that people are contributing.
You can make a difference, and if, you know,
I always say the camera of history is rolling, and
you want in your lifetime to be able to
say that you've seen something different when history goes back.
So I want to be able to say that I played a roll in eradicating malaria from
the planet called Earth. >> That's awesome.
>> [LAUGH]
>> And so, how do, how do you inspire members of Congress?
Do you walk around and give that same
speech on the floor when you're in the House?
>> Well me and my co-chair, what we do, we try to make sure that we have meetings.
But it hasn't been difficult because the world is much smaller today than it was
10, 15, even 20 years ago when we started making sure we wiped it out
here in the United States.
And I think that you get a sense of really tapping into a person, you
know them being a human being and saying look, why do we have this disease?
And then you think about the words that you, you know, I think about words
that Dr. King, you know, he says,
injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Well, malaria anywhere is a threat to malaria everywhere.
And so what we say is, it is in our own
self-interest to make sure that we wipe it out across the planet.
Because when you look at, you know, airplanes and other diseases that
can, that can be transported back and forth, why take the chance?
And so, we talk and talk and this is one of the issues, fortunately.
And Lord knows we have our partisan issues
in Washington DC and we can't agree on much.
But one of the areas, I can tell you, that we've come together and
we agree upon, both Democrats and Republicans and House
and the Senate, is eradicating this disease called malaria.
>> Yeah, I would echo that.
It has been astoundingly bipartisan in Washington, D.C.,
which is unusual in Washington, D.C. these days.
Thank you very much. We also have with us Mikkel Vestergaard
Frandsen, and he is the CEO and of, of a company by the
same name.
And Mikkel, you had a very interesting
introduction to the company and to your work.
So, when you were young you, you went to Africa and how did, what, what happened?
9:55
We have one that is ready that kills insects mosquitoes that
are resistant to the known insecticides and is still safe for humans.
The data package is ready and we're waiting
for the World Health Organization to evaluate it.
But as we're on the topic of, of fragile success, I think we need to be reminded
also that keeping pressure on the on the funding, on the progress and the gains
we've made is so important, because if we
don't keep the pressure on malaria's going to resurge.
>> Right, and we've seen tremendous success.
I just recently went to a Global Fund board meeting in Sri Lanka, where they had
gone from having 260,000 cases of malaria a year, about a decade
ago, to having zero indigenous cases now. So it is a success and it does
require continued vigilance, too, because it can resurface if you don't control it.
>> And certainly, sorry.
And certainly, when it's a replenishment year for the Global Fund this
year, I know that, that this is near and dear to your heart.
They have a target of raising a lot of money, 15
billion, and we, we want to make sure that they're on track.
>> Right.
So finally, we have
a terrific story from Edson Kodama and his daughter, Naomi.
And they get involved in in malaria, and in
particular, you, Naomi, got involved in a very interesting way.
How old were you when you first started looking at or taking action on malaria?
>> Well actually my involvement with
helping others starting before Nothing But Nets.
It was when I was seven
years old my seventh birthday was December 26th, 2004.
Which was coincidentally also the day of the tsunami in Indonesia, and so we
were celebrating my birthday and actually saw on the news all these children dying.
And I felt in my heart, I did not feel
like celebrating mere seven years of my life, when there
are children out there who are dying and losing everything
that they have that might be my age or younger.
11:53
And so I told my father that instead of receiving presents that, although
they might be great, I may not necessarily use them for my benefit.
They might just end up thrown in the corner collecting dust.
But instead of using that money that they would spend anyway
on me getting a present, use this money to save someone's life.
Because there's no ma, no gift that someone can buy for
me that is more valuable, and more significant than someone's life.
>> That's really also awesome, yeah. >> And so, yeah.
>> [SOUND]
And how old are you now? >> I'm 15 now.
>> And you've been doing this every year since, and expanding it?
>> Yes.
Yeah.
I started working with Nothing But Nets when I was
eight, which is a malaria eradication campaign under the UN Foundation.
Cause the following year I told my dad I wanted to continue helping people and he
talked to me about the UN MDGs or Millennium Development Goals.
And Nothing But Nets was a campaign under that helping eradicate malaria.
And it was a very simple concept.
It was $10 to send a net and save a
life, and as an eight year old who didn't really understand
how much $10 was, it was a simple concept for me
to grasp and a simple concept to share to other people.
>> Great.
And Edson you took that,
I mean, you were, you worked with JCI. >> Yes.
>> And so you help youth
do youth organization activities and philanthropic work.
How many how many people do you have in your organization?
>> We have 200,000 active citizens, that we call ourselves,
and members from the age of 18 through 40 years old.
We are in 5,000 communities around the world, in 126 countries.
The active citizenship concept means the members
are involved in the problem solving process.
So we just not talk.
Like the Nothing But Nets campaign is one of the campaigns we embrace.
We try to implement projects in a unique way.
Just two weeks ago we, we run the, the regatta.
It was organized by JCI Netherlands with several countries in Europe.
We run the regatta and
raise funds for Nothing But Nets. We did also in, in Japan.
We did agreements with the companies, the vending machines.
A couple of cents of every drink, the sales
in vending machines in Japan goes to Nothing But Nets.
And we have also the, the Budapest-Bamako
which is the JCI version of Paris-Dakar Rally.
We load the Jeeps and cars with bed nets and run through west Africa to distribute
nets and create awareness in the process. And just last week we
have the JCI booster, JCI USA, create awareness here in the United States.
It's not a problem here in the United States, the malaria.
But we are creating awareness, raising funds,
and sending help to lives in Africa.
>> And how much money, pegging off of your daughters involvement in malaria
and Nothing But Nets, how much money have you raised for Nothing But Nets?
>> Well,
we are close to $2 million as of today and I believe that we can encourage
more people to engage in this process. $10 is so simple.
That resonates a lot in our membership, and similar
to the project that she does it's a birthday party.
You hold a birthday party, they are so simple.
You, you, you don't go to have a, a, a fast
food, and you can save life.
It's something that our members, because of the
age range, they have a lot of children.
So, that $10 issue resonates pretty well among our memberships.
>> And finally I wanted to note about Edson an
interesting story, you were a professional baseball player in Brazil?
>> Yes, I use to play baseball, yeah, a long time ago.
>> And
Nothing But Nets helped you fulfill one of your dreams?
>> Yes, my dream was to play in the
major league and they, a couple months ago in,
in St. Louis before the, the game St. Louis
and Cincinnati Reds, and I throw the first pitch.
It was, it was [SOUND] all donation for Nothing But
Nets and then again, but that was long time ago.
Today if I throw the ball the mosquito might stop on there on top of the ball.
[LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Very good.
Congressman, is there anything you'd like to add to it?
I mean, in particular, how do you keep people inspired, given that
there's a constant crush of questions and issues that come up in Congress?
How do you keep people inspired in Congress?
>> Well, you know, when you think about it, we all have a responsibility.
You don't get into public life, and just
say that you're going to forget about humankind.
And as I said earlier, by the world being
smaller, you try to demonstrate by leadership.
And, it, $2 million.
If you can raise $2 million, what should
we be able to be doing government by government?
Not just the United States government, but
working collectively together, this is UN week.
What could we do if we're talking to our colleagues,
you know, and what we do on a consistent basis.
Parliamentarians to parliamentarians trying to make sure that
everybody's making a contribution and focused on eradicating malaria.
And so when we try to keep it in the
in the conscious of everyone because it seems to be though
when you talk about what we have in our humanity
collected together that is something that we should all rally around.
If you talk about what's taking place in Syria
what the big deal was the chemical weapons being utilized
and the reason why the president wanted to step up
was because that was a violation of some human dignities.
Well a violation of human dignities is
still young people in the year 2013 losing their life because of malaria.
So we've gotta keep it on the forefront, keep talking, keep raising money.
And letting folks know they can see the benefit of their dollar every day.
And you hear the statistic that's being talked about, you
know, when you go down from a million to 700,000.
But with just a little extra money, we can go from 700,000 down to zero.
And that's the goal and the focus that should keep us driving and motivated.
Because we can do it.
And we don't know whose lives we're going to save but we're saving our
children because that is the most precious resource that we have on this planet.
>> Yeah.
And on that front we've had some great announcements this week.
And one of them was that the United Kingdom is stepping up
to the plate, and it's made a pledge to the Global Fund.
That's coming on the heels of the Nordic countries making a terrific announcement
of the same, an increased pledge, as we head into this replenishment process.
So I just wanted to say thank you for your time, thank you for all that you're
doing, and for anybody in the audience who is interested in learning more.
I would encourage you to go to www.nothing nothingbutnets.net
>> Nothingbutnets.net.
Yes. >> Right.
Or www.theglobalfund.org and you can find our more
and there may be ways that you can help.
Again, the message is go ahead.
>> Sorry, because it's really such an easy way to solve this problem.
Because right now, if we want to eradicate malaria
in Africa, all we need is 400 million nets.
I mean think about how many people there are in the US.
If every American donated just two nets, this is just the United States, we
could solve this problem.
>> There
you go. Thank you very much.
>> Infection diseases is another place where we can really make a difference now.
I mean there are other research programs where we're trying to, you know,
cure certain kinds of cancers and things like that which are, are really important.
But the ones I'm talking to you about now, gastroendocrinologal diseases.
That is, diarrheal
diseases, HIV/AIDS and malaria.
These are things we know how to deal with right now.
And, and there are many infectious diseases that still wreak havoc in
populations around the world but and, and we know how to deal with those diseases.
If we can get the drugs in the hands of people who need them the most.
More than 1 billion people in developing countries suffer from infectious
diseases that attract little donor support.
I mean, there are some diseases that we all
talk about, like malaria, let's say but there are others
that get little attention and little funding and more
than a billion people around the world suffer from them.
And with attention and funding, we know how to combat those diseases.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
So we're here with Professor Jessica Cohen, who
is at the Harvard School of Public Health.
And talking to us through a some
form of advanced technology that I don't understand.
And thank you for making time to talk with, with me today.
Professor Cohen is a Wesleyan graduate, and has
been at Harvard for the last few years?
Is that? >> Four years.
Yep. >> Four years.
And I thought we'd start off by you saying a little bit about your own itinerary.
>> Sure.
So, thank you for having me.
It's a pleasure to see Wesleyan through the
>> [LAUGH]. >> Through the webcam.
So at Wesleyan I was an economics major. I thought
that it was one of the best ways to think sort of systematically and rigorously
about behavior, questions about behavior and society.
And at the time I was interested in sort of very broad big questions.
My thesis at Wesleyan was about, what was it about?
It was about the evolution of the reciprocity norm.
And how people people give gifts to one
another, and how economic institutions influence that type
of giving. Very different from what I do now.
I
28:15
when they started doing this, that prenatal
attendance went back down to very low levels.
>> Really?
>> To lower levels.
And that got us thinking, wow, could there really be
that big of an effect of charging $0.75 for a net.
I mean, a net that these people really needed, right?
There was tons of malaria, clear benefit. Clear economic benefit, right?
Because you can work if you don't have malaria.
Clear health benefit.
Could it really be that it mattered that much to charge that?
>> Right.
>> So we went back.
This was part of my senior thesis.
My senior thesis, my doctoral dissertation.
>> Right. >> And we did an experiment.
Where we looked at the effect of charging $0.75
for a bed net, relative to giving them for free.
And we looked at a few prices in between.
So the idea was just like the way you would do a clinical trial
for medicine or surgery.
We did a randomized control trial to compare policy A to policy B.
Does it make sense to give them for free or to charge something?
And the starting point was that, while it may be the case that when you charge
something people are more likely to use it and to value it.
You could be sort of cutting your nose to spite your face.
>> Yes >> Because people are poor and.
You know, you're shut.
You know, your, your, your objective is to increase coverage by a lot.
>> Right.
>> And so what we did was we compared a few things, but the
main things were how many pregnant women get a net when you charge something.
>> Right.
>> And how many get it when it's free, and how many then are sleeping
under it and using it a month later that we looked at that through home visits.
And what
we found was a tremendous amount of price sensitivity.
So if 100 women take a free net
>> Right
>> 40 of them will pay 60 cents for it.
And 25 of them will pay the, the the price that the government of Kenya was charging.
So in other words they were losing 75% coverage.
>> Right.
>> In order to get back a 10% of the cost of this net, right?
And on
the other hand, there was no difference in the
chances that a woman was sleeping under the net, if
she bought it, you know, if she took it for
free, or if she paid the highest price for it.
So, the implication was that it makes no sense
at all to charge small user fees for bed nets.
What your, what you're losing you're not making up for at all.
>> Yep.
>> In terms of what, and that was the beginning of a change
in policy that contributed to a change in policy in Kenya toward free distribution
of these nets. And also was part of a mounting evidence
that these small fees for these essential health products are counter-productive.
And Jeffrey Sachs who you're talking to
later will probably tell you something similar.
And so, that's sort of, that was sort of my path, and it's led me to
this work on impact evaluation and this sort of approach to development and
poverty which thinks about sort of searching for the right policy or program.
[BLANK_AUDIO]