The price of free things

Health agencies are starting to focus on giving away bed nets in Africa.

If you've been reading this for a while, you know how I feel about giveaways -- they cause dependency and ruin local producers/merchants! No hand-outs!

Except . . . giving away bed nets seems to be equivalent to giving away vaccines: bed nets actually have a protective effect on the community if used by a sufficient number of residents. First, really?--cool! Second, public health issues are actually considered to be areas in which the well-being of all benefits from public funding. Just like vaccines, it's in the public interest to provide bed nets to those who can't afford them.

So why the debate? Well, there are always a few small government advocates who want everything to be in the private sector. Also, some people don't like to let go of an idea once they get hold of it. I was once told that the correct answer to any question asked by an epidemiologist is 'it depends'. For the people who still cling to the concept that giving away free goods is the least cost-efficient development scheme, add this caveat: only if the societal benefit of the giveaway is less than the societal cost. In this case, that assumption fails, so we must change our stance and encourage bed net giveaways.