Why Preventative Medicine?

We choose to focus on the provision of preventative medicine rather than curative. First, we make this choice because in large part preventive medicine is cheaper than curative. It is much cheaper for an individual to purchase and sleep under a bed net every night than to treat a case of malaria (a long-lasting bed net costs an individual around $14 while the most effect malaria treatment runs around $6-8 per dose).

Second, preventative medicine has a significant impact on the development of children. Growing up malaria free can increase a person’s earnings 50% per year. Other studies have shown that health investments in early childhood result in significant increases in cognitive ability, which translate into higher earnings in the future.