Lead poisoning has killed more than 400 children in the state of Zamfara in the past six months. The tragedy unfolding in Zamfara is not a simple act of nature. Rather, it’s the latest testament to the Nigerian government’s failure to make the health of its citizens a priority.

Amartya Sen famously said that famines do not occur in well-run, democratic countries. The same is almost always true for cholera epidemics.