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Book Jacket LIFEBLOOD
How to Change the World One Dead Mosquito at a Time
ALEX PERRY
SUMMARY  |  EXCERPT
Time magazine's Africa bureau chief tells the tale of the campaign to end malaria, and the famously private philanthropist determined to end this preventable scourge

In 2006, the Wall Street pioneer and philanthropist Ray Chambers flicked through some holiday snapshots taken by his friend, development economist Jeff Sachs, and remarked on the placid beauty of a group of sleeping Malawian children. "They're not sleeping," Sachs told him. "They're in malarial comas. A few days later, they were all dead." Chambers had long avoided the public eye, but this moment sparked his determination to coordinate an unprecedented, worldwide effort to eradicate a disease that has haunted humanity since before the advent of medicine.

Award-winning journalist Alex Perry obtained unique access to Chambers, now the UN Special Envoy for Malaria. In this book, Perry weaves together science and history with on-the-ground reporting and a riveting exposé of the workings of humanitarian aid to document Chambers' campaign. By replacing traditional ideas of assistance with business acumen and hustle, Chambers saved millions of lives, and upturned current notions of aid, forging a new path not just for the developing world but for global business and philanthropy.

Alex Perry is Time's Africa bureau chief, based in Cape Town. He is the author of Falling Off the Edge: Globalization, World Peace and Other Lies (2009).

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HARDCOVER
ISBN 9781610390866
Pub date: 09/06/11
Price: $25.99/30.00 Canada
5 1/2 x 8 1/4
256 pages
Current Events, Medicine
Selling Territory: WxUK, EU, CW, S. AFR
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