TLDR; I want to help eradicate zika, chinkunguya and dengue. I think the technology exists to have a good shot at this in the next 20 years. I am willing to devote basically all of my time to making this goal obtain. What should my next steps be?<p>Eradicating aides aegypti mosquitos will be a tremendous net gain for humanity. It’s no longer a scientific problem, but rather one of coordination and political will.<p>Shortening the time to eradication by even <i>one</i> year would be worth a lifetime of work, because the ill borne by these diseases compounds: every person who contracts chikungunya fever is riddled for life with pain and arthritis; every person born with zika virus is a human tragedy as well as a tremendous economic burden.<p>About me: I am in my late twenties. I have some outdated and very minor publications in biochem&#x2F;molecular biology—I’d say that while I’m not <i>fluent</i> in genetics I certainly have the vocabulary and can converse at a basic level. I haven&#x27;t done wet lab work in years.<p>I’ve spent the past 5 years working in finance startups, building and shipping product. I have enough passive income to be able to live frugally relatively indefinitely.<p>I’m closest (emotionally and politically&#x2F;socially) to southern Mexico, so that’s the place I would like to start.<p>What should my next steps be? What level of impact do you think I could have in the next 5-10 years?
Ask HN: Making the eradication of aedes aegypti my life’s work