Africa Fighting Malaria

Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM) is a non-profit group which states it "seeks to educate people about the scourge of Malaria and the political economy of malaria control." It is based in Washington D.C with an office in South Africa. AFM was formed in May 2000. In June 2003 AFM was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit group in the United States.

In January 2007 it signaled that it hoped to broaden its focus beyond malaria "to research, write and comment on other healthcare issues, including AIDS policy, the debate over access to essential medicines and the protection of intellectual property rights, and water rights."

Countering malaria and DDT

AFM promotes the pesticide DDT as one of the most effective means of fighting malaria. It asserts that global health organizations must be free to employ all available tools to fight malaria and that the limited use of DDT for spraying homes and hospitals is a powerful and necessary tool in this fight.

Critics say AFN does not actually fight malaria, but is merely a pressure group that lobbies for increased use of DDT.

However, the World Health Organization has agreed that, carefully used, DDT is a highly effective means of reducing the incidence of malaria, particularly in Africa. The WHO approved the use of DDT for malaria control in September 2006.

DDT is very effective at killing the insect vectors of malaria. Compared to the harm caused by malaria, the mild harm caused by DDT (to humans) makes the use of DDT reasonable in certain areas and climates. However, its overuse for other purposes has contributed to the emergence of DDT-resistant mosquitoes and has been shown to harm birds and other animal populations, leading to bans on its use.

AFM ran a "Save Children From Malaria" campaign designed to prevent the Stockholm Convention from banning the use of DDT. The coalition consisted of

• Competitive Enterprise Institute
• Africa Fighting Malaria
• European Science and Environment Forum
• Liberty Institute
• Center for Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (CEDICE)

Criticism of WHOPES

In its 2007 annual report, AFM stated that in April it "published an influential report on the effect of UN-intervention in the nascent market for long-lasting insecticidal nets. The World Health Organization Pesticide Evaluation Scheme, or WHOPES, sets industry standards for nets, but the review process is slow and opaque, limiting access and competition for public resources. Although WHO approval does not preclude a donor agency or government from buying a particular brand of net, in reality governments and donors rarely buy nets that are not WHO approved. Because WHOPES only meets once a year, an unintended consequence has been to limit the number of suppliers. This has led to a market dominated by one firm, high prices, accusations of corruption in the procurement process, and reduced choice for consumers. AFM’s report received good feedback from the WHO Global Malaria Program, the GFATM and net manufacturers, and its advocacy prompted donor support for the review process."

Personnel

Board Members

• Roger Bate, was AFM's Chairman of the Board from 2003 to 2006. He is also a Fellow of the UK-based Institute of Economic Affairs, a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was previously a co-founder of European Science and Environment Forum.
• Lance Laifer
• Gerry Ohrstrom
• Dr. Donald Roberts, PhD is a Professor of Tropical Public Health at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
• Richard Tren, has been the Director of AFM since its inception in 2000; in 2006 he became the chairman of the AFM board.

Staff

• Philip Coticelli, a researcher, editor and public relations officer for AFM since 2005.
• Kimberly Hess, has been working as a researcher and editor for AFM since 2007.
• Francois Maartens, has been working with AFM since July 2007.
• Lorraine Mooney, who previously ran the European Science and Environment Forum.
• Carlos Odora, an AFM Fellow since 2006.
• Jasson Urbach, has been working with AFM since 2003. He is currently AFM's Southern Africa Director, as well as an economist with the Free Market Foundation.
• Cosmin Florescu, research assistant

AFN director Richard Tren has worked in conjunction with other organizations, including the International Policy Network, the Free Market Foundation in South Africa (where he is a council member, a position he has held since at least 2005) and the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. Tren also uses Africa Fighting Malaria as a platform for other health-related free-market opinions. In particular, with Amir Attaran, he has been vocal in attacking attempts (led by the Treatment Action Campaign) to supply generic versions of AIDS drugs to South Africa, on the grounds that this will stifle innovation.

Co-director Roger Bate is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Funding

On its website AFM states that it "receives its funding from a number of different sources, however because of the nature of our work we have a policy of not accepting funds from any government, the insecticides industry or the pharmaceutical industry."

• Anglo American Chairman's Fund
• BHP Billiton plc
• The Earhart Foundation
• European Science and Environment Forum
• The Gelman Foundation
• International Policy Network
• The Marit and Hans Rausing Charitable Foundation
• Hedge Funds vs. Malaria
• The Ohrstrom Foundation
• Marjorie E. Thiel and Wilbert A. Thiel Foundation
• Swordspoint Foundation

AFM argues that it receives no funding from the ‘insecticides industry’. However, for a while much of the money for AFM came from Bate’s organisation ESEF as well as the IPN, which did/do receive corporate funding. Other funding sources that AFM admits on its website are the mining company Billiton plc; the right-wing Earhart and Gelman Foundations; and the Marit and Hans Rausing Charitable Foundation. What it does not disclose on the website is that in 2004, AFM received $30,000 from Exxon.

Balance sheet

In its Form 990 annual returns to the Internal Revenue Service, AFM discloses that it its first year of operation in 2003 it had total revenue of $1.261 million but had total expenses of only $136,000. Jennifer Zambone, who was a director of the organisation and its only paid employee, earned $35,000. The following year AFM's revenue plummeted to just under $71,000 but, with total expenses running to just over $299,000, it ate into its foundation grants. In 2004, the IRS return reveals that for 30 hours a week return, Roger Bate was paid $100,000 by the organisation. (Zambone's renumeration for her 40 hours a week had jumped from $35,000 to $60,000).

By 2005 AFM's income had improved little, with additional revenue of a little over $87,000. With expenses running at$273,608, AFM once more chewed into its generous initial funding grants. While Bate once more pulled down $100,000 for his 30 hours a week, Zambone's remuneration dropped back down to $35,000.

In 2007 AFM's finances deteriorated even further, with the group having total revenue of only $142,745 while expenses ran at $405,729 - a deficit of well over $262,000. With only $268,000 in reserves remaining, the group faces a bleak future unless it can tap into significant new funding sources.

In the period between 2003 and 2005, despite all the columns written by Tren as a director of AFM, the IRS returns indicate that he was paid nothing. However, with Tren's move to Washington D.C in 2006 he took on the role of being both a board member and a director and was paid $59,167. As Director and Chairman in 2007, Tren was paid $82,916.

At the foot of an October 2008 opinion column, Richard Tren stated that "Africa Fighting Malaria is not funded by the insecticides or chemical industry. AFM’s advocacy on the EU insecticides regulations and our participation at events in Brussels and elsewhere has been funded by a grant made by the MCJ Amelior Foundation."

Contact details

Richard Tren
1050 17th St NW # 520
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: +1 202 223 3298
Fax: +1 202 223 3646
Web: http://www.fightingmalaria.org

PO Box 17156, Congella
4013, South Africa
Tel/Fax: + 27 31 206 1416
Cell: +27 83 776 3820

Articles and Resources

External links

Columns by AFM Staff

• Richard Tren, The Boys From Brazil, The Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2002.

Reports by AFM

• Philip Coticelli, WHOPES and Its Impact on Long-lasting Insecticidal Net Availability, Africa Fighting Malaria Occasional Paper, April 23, 2007. (Pdf)

General Articles

• Tim Lambert, DDT madness, Deltoid blog, February 11, 2005.