The safety of drinking water was a major matter, not something to be careless about. In his previous life, Africans would rather drink filthy raw water from shallow puddles than dig wells.
There was indeed no special reason for it, only a matter of mindset. Perhaps Africans were more willing to believe that bacteria and viruses were merely conspiracies invented by Westerners.
After all, Black people in Africa had done this for thousands of years and still multiplied and thrived. Even a terrifying disease like AIDS seemed powerless before Africans.
In his previous life, two South African presidents had openly declared that AIDS was not caused by a virus, but by poverty. This showed the mindset of Africans.
One had to know that those capable of becoming South African presidents were among Africa's elite. If even they were so anti-intellectual, then the state of mind of Africa's lower-class masses, who were keen on superstition and lacked knowledge, could well be imagined.
Perhaps AIDS simply was not powerful enough, lacking the awe-inspiring terror of the Ebola virus.
Of course, Ernst felt that the conspiracy theories of African citizens and politicians did make some sense. Looking across Africa's terrifying diseases, all of them had erupted after the arrival of Western colonization, around 1950.
At present, the most terrifying disease in Africa, and the disease hindering European nations from developing Africa, was malaria. Compared with those incurable diseases, it was simply not in the same league.
Malaria could also be eradicated. This was no empty talk. China had eradicated malaria in Ernst's previous life; during the early years after its founding, it had thirty million cases. As everyone knew, malaria was spread by mosquitoes, yet mosquitoes themselves had not been eradicated.
Yet China had still eliminated malaria through meticulous planning and tremendous determination.