# What is the cost of life?



## andrewball1000 (Oct 16, 2009)

I have just had the jabs at my local Dr's for 8 days in Gambia. Yellow Fever cost £50 which lasts for 10 years which equates to £5 per year. On the other hand 16 Malaria Tablet (Malarone) cost £50.43 for 16 daily tablets. 

Ignoring the £10 private prescription fee this is £3.16 per day or £1150 per year to provide protection. Yes I could probably get it slightly cheaper on the internet, but what do you think about this cost of protection?


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## sparky20006 (Apr 18, 2011)

Its disgusting.

They probably cost pennies to manufacture (regardless of R and D) and don't even start me on the countless thousands you've paid in tax and NI in your life.

The obscene profits these drug companies make are only bested by weapon manufacturers.

:evil: :evil:

Paul

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## Hezbez (Feb 7, 2009)

I think we are fortunate, that, by the lottery of life, we have been born in a part of the world where most of us are able to afford to buy such protection. Unlike the poor people who belong to the very countries that need it.

Some antibiotics such as doxycycline provide protection against strains of malaria and are usually a cheaper option. Not suitable for all malaria areas though.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

andrewball1000 said:


> I have just had the jabs at my local Dr's for 8 days in Gambia. Yellow Fever cost £50 which lasts for 10 years which equates to £5 per year. On the other hand 16 Malaria Tablet (Malarone) cost £50.43 for 16 daily tablets.
> 
> Ignoring the £10 private prescription fee this is £3.16 per day or £1150 per year to provide protection. Yes I could probably get it slightly cheaper on the internet, but what do you think about this cost of protection?


It is a reasonable argument that if you can afford to go to the Gambia for 8 days why should the remainder of people in the UK who pay taxes pay for your on-going health.

It is simply a form of insurance, do you drive your MH on 3rd party risks only and expect to be able to get the cost of any damage back from someone else?

The cost to you of getting malaria could be immense - it kills more people than any other disease per year. Avoiding such risk is to me, worth the cost per day........

On the other hand many people that LIVE in areas where malaria is endemic do not take such medication and are much more aggressive if any symptoms occur while they are in such areas.

The risks of yellow fever are also immense and the chances of a cure markedly less.

In my opinion the cost is reasonable for continued peace of mind - as I said, like an insurance policy, but even with the tablets there is still no 100% guarantee so if any symptoms occur go at once to the experts and advise them where you have been, do not just ignore such things......

Symptoms can appear even weeks after returning to the UK, just bear that in mind if you become unwell in any way after your return and go to see your GP.

Dave


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## Jiggles (Apr 17, 2007)

You choose to go to places like Gambia, what do you expect Andrew?

John


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## GEMMY (Jun 19, 2006)

My thoughts,.......Stuff the Gambia....... 8) It's obviously full of disease.

tony


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## sparky20006 (Apr 18, 2011)

Apparently having paid tax and Ni all your life doesn't qualify you for 50 quids worth of tabs on the NHS that you have funded but (as always) you can get family planning for free. So why don't you pop down there and get a free 6 foot long condom and sleep in it?

:idea:

Job's a goodun!

Paul

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## andrewball1000 (Oct 16, 2009)

I think you may miss my point. It is not about me but about those who have to spend time in Malaria infested countries. 

I have no problem with the cost of my protection for 8 days. What about those who have to spend their life there. 

I spent the whole of 1971 travelling Africa from North to South and took anti malaria tablet every day. I was 25 at the time but at today's rates I could not do what I did then.

We justifiably knock the Bankers, but I question the extra cost of the R&D that has gone into the improvement of tablets since to justify the daily price that every one that lives in Africa has to pay.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

I worked in an area that was once in the Guinness Book of Records as the worst place in the world for Malaria (they subsequently dropped that category of record :lol: ).

Nobody took Malaria tablets and yes I had Malaria twice.

The reasoning was twofolod. Malaria tablets are not 100% effective. When you are taking them, they mask the early symptoms of Malaria and you end up in serious trouble by the time it is diagnosed. When treated early, you should be OK.

The symptoms are that you feel like you are coming down with a bad case of Influenza, accompanied by vomiting and Diarrhea.

Enjoy Gambia, we liked the place.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Hi Andrew.
It must be 25 years since we holidayed in Gambia. I can't remember having to pay for my Yellow Fever and Malaria tabs then.
But of course everything increases over the years, well nearly everything.!!!!

Dragged my wife there for our wedding anniversary and Christmas kicking and screaming cos she would not be with the family.
Loved it so much we went the next year as well.

Get into your haggling mode though or get ripped off.

Ray.


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi

Equally recommended for The Gambia is Doxycycline unless you're pregnant, I bought some two years ago at just over 2p each so you've wasted your money there perhaps!

http://www.traveldoctor.co.uk/malaria.htm

I read a thing a while ago that the best way to minimise malaria is to go to bed before dusk and sleep in a net. Many people who had been given a net by the likes of aid agencies weren't told about dusk being the highest risk time, and their culture meant late nights were the social hours. Cooking in their huts meant small sparks put holes in the net, and at the end of the day they just didn't like them. If a £10 net can't be easily implemented I don't think a daily tablet at any cost would work 

Jason


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

andrewball1000 said:


> I have just had the jabs at my local Dr's for 8 days in Gambia. Yellow Fever cost £50 which lasts for 10 years which equates to £5 per year. On the other hand 16 Malaria Tablet (Malarone) cost £50.43 for 16 daily tablets.
> 
> Ignoring the £10 private prescription fee this is £3.16 per day or £1150 per year to provide protection. Yes I could probably get it slightly cheaper on the internet, but what do you think about this cost of protection?


Your costs most probably helps to subsidise low cost treatment for the indigenous population.
Think of of as a charity donation.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Hi.

When we went to Kenya on Safari and a weeks diving in the Indian Ocean we had to have the relevant jabs and Anti malaria treatment which in our Case was "Larium"..

All was fine for the holiday, I and Sandra took the Malaria tablets with no problems, It was a good year after when a problem with me reared it's head I started having panic attacks, they came on at anytime and for no particular reason, I could be driving down the motorway and one would start I could feel it coming on it was like I was thinking it would happen so it did.. I would have to pull over until the episode started to wain enough for me to leave the motorway at the first exit where I could wait it out until I was "Normal" cough. They would even happen as I was lying in bed they just triggered themselves by thinking about one..

I am an hairy arsed 6ft 16stone builder not some soft woosy so all this was totally alien to me and I hadn't got a clue why I should be having them..

Off to the docs who did all the usual stuff then said I will prescribe some ? I can't remember but the stuff they give you that is habit forming that you can't get off.. No way was I taking that so quite by chance I was looking on the Internet about going back to Kenya when I came across and article like this which made me realise it was the bloody Larium that had stuffed me..

It took a good 4 years for it to work through my system and the panic attacks to stop.. Scary place to be in those days, I will not be going anywhere which involves anti malaria drugs.. I will stick to Cleethorpes. :roll: .

And the moral to this tale.. DO NOT TAKE LARIUM.

ray.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

While I am not defending the costs that drug companies place on items the cost of R & D is immense;

of every 100 "new" products developed, perhaps one MIGHT prove effective, therefore the other 99 have been developed trialed and rejected,

trialing a drug is a VERY expensive procedure; once the drug has been identified and a means of synthesis developed it then has to be tested for effectiveness and for side-effects, all drugs have to be tested away from humans before they can be considered for trials, then they have to be tested on volunteers (who are paid a small sum depending on the risks involved from £50 - £10,000),

many drugs are rejected before these steps are completed.

Remember this one?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4807042.stm

once literally hundreds of trials are completed the drugs are then submitted for approval and a licence for limited trials may be given, these may be done through consultants in specialised units.

Once that step has been completed the drug then has to be submitted to NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), who have the final say about whether the drug is cost-effective and effective in it's specified role. They reject many drugs at this stage (cancer drugs hit the headlines frequently).

So the R & D that appears so easy is actually very complex and horrendously expensive, think of problems that have arisen in the past;

Thalidomide; first introduced in the late 1950's and withdrawn in the early 1960's after horrendous birth defects were discovered

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/thalidomide/first.html

or perhaps LSD;

developed in the late 1930's as a by-product from research into ergot - a naturally occurring material that had been used during some medical procedures, but LSD-25 (totally synthetic) proved to have wide ranging psychological effects (remember the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?);
_
" Picture yourself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade sky,
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over your head.ook for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she's gone.
Lucy in the Sky with diamonds..." _

who could have predicted that?

So although the costs MAY SEEM high, they are justifiable, try working through this School Science link on the development of Viagra;

http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/pfizer/viagra/index.html

(No jokes about needing a stiff drink though please! :lol: )

So the costs seem high in isolation, but are not when the overall success/failure rate of drug development is considered..... 

Dave


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

rayrecrok said:


> Hi.
> 
> When we went to Kenya on Safari and a weeks diving in the Indian Ocean we had to have the relevant jabs and Anti malaria treatment which in our Case was "Larium"..
> 
> ...


I totally agree with Ray about Larium. The side effects can be weird.

I asked my Doctor for a few before I went overseas as I had read about them. My side effects were mild but deadly. At the time, I used to drive about 10 miles to my Mothers house. While on Larium, I would suddenly realise that I was at her house, with no idea or memory of driving there. There were big gaps in my daily routine which thankfully disappeared when I stopped takinjg them. I only took 3. 8O


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## ardgour (Mar 22, 2008)

Remember anti-malarial tablets, of any variety are only tertiary protection, they don't stop the malaria parasite from getting into your body but (hopefully) stop it from killing you once it is there
.
Primary protection - don't go anywhere there are malaria parasites
Secondary protection - go to malaria areas but don't get bitten by the female anopheles mosquito which carries malaria
Tertiary protection - either have chemicals in your bloodstream which stop the parasite reproducing and making you ill or have an immune system which has built up antibodies that stop the parasite.
If you go to a malaria zone and get bitten by an anopheles mosquito there is a pretty good chance that malaria parasites will get into your bloodstream - a sobering thought.
No anti-malarial is 100% effective so be aware of symptoms and seek medical help immediately if you are unsure but it takes a minimum of 7 days for the parasite to reproduce in your body so illness within 7 days of arriving in a malaria zone is not likely to be malaria. 

People born in the Gambia are repeatedly exposed to Malaria and if they survive build up a natural resistance but it takes years - a very harsh form of natural selection

Chris


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## IanA (Oct 30, 2010)

Some doctors will prescribe the tablets for the price of a prescription as the cost of treating the disease is more than providing the tablets.

Don't forget to keep taking the tablets for a time after you return - they kill the parasites in your blood stream, so if you get bitten just before you return but don't finish the tablets you may still get Malaria - my wife is a Practice Nurse who does travel consultations and this is what she tells everyone..


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## rugbyken (Jan 16, 2006)

have been to gambia and kenya for the last 6 years repeatedly took all the malaria tablet's malarone on private prescription, first couple of times then found not really necassary ie kenya had a problem in a coastal region about 10 years back because it was a coastal region [very rare} was investigated and found to be an abandoned quarry/cement plant causing the problem this has now been cleaned up and is a wildlife rescue park, with no new cases but it sit's on the world health site as an "at risk" area , 
likewise gambia is reportedly only high risk during the rainy season april/august but if i was going upriver rather than just kolili etc i would definitely take some protection, 
our investigation of the risk was because it appeared at one point that several people my wife included had gone down with a severe stomach complaint just cramp's & hallucinations doctor came on site and advised stop taking malarone 100% of the victim's were on it and symptom's cleared up in 2 day's


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