Polio is spreading across Africa, despite the $700 million Bill Gates has spent trying to eradicate the disease once and for all — for reasons like this:
In 2003, Islamic leaders in northern Nigeria spread rumors that polio vaccines sterilized Muslim girls. Leaders halted vaccinations, allowing the virus to spread. The WHO said the virus eventually infected 20 countries.
Donors prefer the “vertical” strategy of targeting specific diseases, like smallpox, which was wiped out in 1979.
Third World leaders prefer a “horizontal” strategy, where they receive large sums of money to improve their entire health-care system. This seems to appeal to journalists too, but I don’t recommend it for countries in a Malthusian Trap.