Malaria: The Economic Burden
The Social and Economic Burden of Malaria
Distribution of free long-lasting insecticidal nets to children of under 5 yers old in Bohicon, Benin
In John Gallup and Jeffrey Sachs’ article, “The economic burden of malaria,” these distinguished authors point out that society has a misconception about malaria - that poverty provokes the transmission of this disease. Gallup and Sachs argue against this preconception and seek to prove the opposite - that malaria, in fact, causes poverty. The greatest risk factor in the transmission of malaria is, instead, geography and to an extent, biological variation seen in both mosquitoes and humans. This explains why malaria eradication efforts have been successful in more temperate, subtropical, or geographically isolated areas and why even intensive efforts to eliminate malaria vectors in sub Sahara Africa have proven insufficient.
Gallup and Sachs’ method was to compare several growth- and income-related factors between countries endemic to malaria against countries where malaria was recently eradicated.
Statistics that show the relationship (but not causation) between malaria and poverty:
- 35 of 44 countries with intensive malaria are found in Africa.
o All but three of these 44 countries were in the bottom half of GDP rankings, per capita, in 1995.
- In 1995, the GDP for malarial countries was 5 times less than countries without ($1,526 GDP per capita and $8,268, respectively).
- The richest 31 countries in the world are without malaria.
Here are several significant statistics that compare pre- and post- growth rates of areas effected by malaria:
- After having lost nearly 20,000 workers in 9 years to malaria on the Panama Canal project, American efforts were not successful until the disease was eradicated
- African mines have taken on high costs to maintain tight regulations in monitoring, drainage, and housing - costs so high that they are only justifiable by higher-productivity rates of malaria-free workers
- In the period after the 1950s eradication of malaria in Greece, Italy, and Spain, their GDP grew at a much faster rate (3.6, 5.3, and 6.2; respectively) that when the countries were endemic during the years before (2.1, 1.0, and -0.4; respectively).
o These 3 countries growth also increased at a much faster rate than their respective region in general - Western Europe.
- Once malaria was brought under control in the southern part of the US, the South went from earning 60% of the nation’s income in the 40s to earning 68% of the nation’s income in 1960.
- Countries with malaria in 1965 had a 1.3% lower growth rate than those without, even with controlled factors such as initial income level, overall health, and tropical location.
- For every 10% reduction in malaria index (the product of the fraction of the population living in areas with high malaria risk in 1965 times the fraction of malaria cases in 1990), there was a 0.3% rise in annual growth.
They suggest ways in which malaria can have such devastating economic repercussions:
Mother and her daughter sick with malaria in St Timothy's governmental hospital in Robertsport, Liberia.
- Child mortality
o Women are less productive when pregnant and for weeks/months after their pregnancy. If malaria sickens their children, women must bear the cost of not working to take care of their child. Furthermore, if the child dies, there is several months of lost economic opportunity that the mother spent either pregnant or caring for the child.
- Education
o If a child is sick and unable to go to school, there is no saying how much educational benefit is lost. If one were to conduct an aggregate assessment of school days lost to malaria, the consequence might be much larger than one would think.
- Diseased persons
o Once infected and showing symptoms, a person is unable to participate in the economically viable workforce which often requires physically strenuous activity, especially in rural areas where a majority of the labor economy is based around the agricultural sector.
- Cognitive Development
o If a mother is infected while carrying a child, a child contracts malaria at an early age, or a child becomes severely anemic due to overexposure to the parasite, the child’s cognitive functions have a higher risk of being impaired, potentially reducing their economic productivity in adulthood.
Download this analysis of the economic burden of malaria, written by Executive Board member Emilia Thurber for her Political Economy of Africa class, to read more on the issue.
“The Economics of Malaria in Africa: Costs, Prevention, and Future Development“
