topnaman | Malaria blog

Check out the malaria lyrics in this smooth beat from The Himalayan Project. MCs Chee Malabar and Rainman paint scenes from rural India in a critique of romanticizing identity. Postcards from Paradise by Chee Malabar

The tragic Pakistan floods have apparently led to a phenomenon best understood as spider-trees. Words will not suffice; look at this picture: To avoid the water the spider, en mass, took refuge in nearby trees. The web encased trees snare most of the local mosquitoes reportedly leading to reduced malaria in the area (thanks Saket). [...]

Truth, with a little humor from one of my favorite comics XKCD:

NGrams are a neat Google feature which let’s you see the percentage of books in a year which mention a term of interest. Results for malaria in all the English language works they have cataloged between 1800 and 2008: Notice the major peaks corresponding to the ‘discovery’ period (1890-1920) and war/eradication era (1940-1960) for malaria [...]

Sonia Shah (no relation, check out her blog though) does not mince words. The author of a malaria history book, The Fever, wrote a scathing critique on the ridiculous anti-mosquito laser system and those who promote it  (thanks Russell/Sanjay). I did see the ‘mosquito death ray’ invention a few months ago when it hit the [...]

And I’ve made it another year… Finding the time to update the site certainly has not gotten any easier but writing is still just as fun. This is also a great excuse to look at some numbers. Comparing some stats between last year and this one: 2008 2009 Total Countries 79 106 120 Unique visitors [...]

a So this is what I’ve been writing about. Courtesy of Wordle.

Last February, I wrote my first post on the influence of the Gates Foundation in malaria. I started the blog primarily with the intention of improving my writing skills. I also hoped the process would help me better develop, organize, and communicate my thoughts related to malaria. Sometimes writing regularly has been hard, especially in [...]

Yes, it’s true – Bill Gates released a jar full of mosquitoes on the audience during his talk at the 2009 TED conference (some funny remarks in the comments here). He said, “Not only poor people should experience this.” Sure releasing mosquitoes is an unorthodox presentation tactic which gets your attention, but the idea, even [...]

A malaria control officer from India recently told me (in Hindi): Falciparum kills people, vivax kills the nation It’s an old anecdote which mirrored the classic malaria scenario in the country. In 1970, Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite species associated with higher mortality, comprised only 14 percent of all cases. Still, the parasite was responsible for [...]