Nigeria, AU Should Promote DDT Use To Control Malaria, Opinion Piece Says

Nigeria should "not fall prey to the propaganda and financial pressures of environmentalists" who oppose the use of the pesticide DDT to control malaria, Matthias Offoboche, former deputy governor of the Cross Rivers state in Nigeria, writes in a This Day/AllAfrica.com opinion piece. DDT spraying is a "safe, tested, cheap, sustainable weapon" against malaria, Offoboche says, adding that 18 African countries use the pesticide to control the disease. With "so many African countries using DDT, Nigeria, the giant of Africa, cannot afford to be the Lilliputian of Africa in things that matter," such as curbing the spread of malaria, Offoboche writes. Not only should Nigeria adopt the use of DDT to fight malaria, but the country also should persuade the African Union to adopt a policy endorsing the use of the pesticide in malaria control interventions. "Until neighboring countries effectively fight malaria, it can never be fully eradicated," Offoboche writes, concluding that if "the whole of Africa decides as a policy to use DDT, donor agencies will be under moral pressure to support" it (Offoboche, This Day/AllAfrica.com, 11/30).