Grindrod shifts its focus to malaria

TERRY HUTSON GRINDROD HAS teamed up with noted explorer Kingsley Holgate to combat the scourge of malaria in East Africa. It won’t be Unicorn ships charging into the fray but ancient Arab dhows, although Grindrod muscle will be combined with the adventurous spirit of the Holgate team to ensure that anti-malaria measures are brought to a wide spectrum of the African population. “It’s a tragedy that a person should die every minute of every day and night from malaria, a disease that is avoidable and curable. I’m told this horrific situation is worsening to such an extent that malaria is regarded as a bigger killer than Aids,” said Grindrod MD, Ivan Clark. Kingsley Holgate, whose National Geographic explorations have made him an internationally respected figure, leads a malaria-fighting odyssey named African rainbow from Durban on June 3. Dhows that historically carried slaves and ivory and other trade goods will instead be loaded now with insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets, with one dhow sailing from Pemba to the most northern part of the Kenyan coast, and another sailing around Lake Victoria’s coastline. A convoy of sponsored Landrovers and inflatable boats will then carry the life-saving equipment to remote villages and up shallow rivers. Holgate said he’d sweated out more than a few bouts of malaria and had learned his lesson – to sleep under a mosquito net. “We use our sponsored Landrovers as mobile clinics to distribute mosquito nets, educational material and Peaceful Sleep products. We know it’s a drop in the ocean but our many sponsors make this fiSTATS SA has released its inflation numbers for March with CPIX – 3.6%; CPI – 3.0%; and core CPI – 3.7%. A number of factors combined to drive inflation higher, according to Standard Bank economist Monica Ambrosi, among them indirect tax changes, the annual survey of education costs, a sharp increase in fuel prices, the inclusion of the increase in domestic workers’ wages, and another increase in medical costs. “March consumer inflation numbers confirm our suspicion that inflation has bottomed and will rise at a faster rate in the months to come, although we do not expect it to pierce the 6% ceiling. “Despite the uptick, we maintain a view of flat interest rates. However, the possibility of rate cuts remains."ght worthwhile,” he said.