Laura Bush Posted by Heather Hurlburt

The Bush Administration has done some good things on development and disease... but they often can't resist making it sound better than it actually is.

So, how many people are sleeping under malaria-preventing bednets the US government has distributed?  1 million adults plus infants and toddlers, says the government's website, maybe not the "millions" the First Lady says -- and a number that pales next to the 59 million bednets the Global Fund is financing.  Also, for what it's worth, the Global Fund says we need to spend $2 billion a year to cut malaria in half by 2010.  The Bush Administration's contribution is a $1.2 billion increase to an annual $30 million contribution over 5 years for a total of $1.35 million -- an eighth of what's needed, from a country with well more than an eighth of the world's wealth.

Comments

[yt]

Um....I hate to be the arithmetic police here, but:

"The Bush Administration's contribution is a $1.2 billion increase to an annual $30 million contribution over 5 years for a total of $1.35 million..."

What? I don't follow your math at all. As far as I can tell you're saying that Bush added $1.2 BILLION to $150 MILLION (over 5 years) and ends up with a total of.....

$1.35 MILLION?

Huh? This must be the new NEW math.