According to an article that recently appeared in the Washington Times, the White House has declared war against malaria, calling it “a genocide on Africans.” With a toll that ranges towards one million each year, it has become the leading cause of death for children under five in the region.
In December, Mr. Bush held the first White House Summit on Malaria, where he brought together all the groups to come up with a strategy to fight the disease. On April 25, the United States marked the first Malaria Awareness Day — a day already acknowledged each year by African countries.
As an activist, I’m certainly pleased to see our current Administration doing something about egregious illnesses in other parts of the world. I do, however, wonder why they insist on using the term genocide to promote their efforts, when they’ve clearly shown how allergic they are to dealing with actual genocides.