Since #coronavirus has made clear a link often overlooked - that between health and economics - let me do a thread on how disease in Africa has huge economic costs.
I used to think corruption and bad governance were the only things holding back African development. I was wrong.
I used to think corruption and bad governance were the only things holding back African development. I was wrong.
Example: Malaria. Malaria and poverty are connected. Research done by John Gallup and Jeffrey Sachs showed that countries with intensive malaria had income levels of only 33% that of countries without malaria, whether or not the countries were in Africa.
Moreover, high levels of malaria in poor countries are not mainly a consequence of poverty.
Malaria is geographically specific.
Countries that eliminated malaria last century - Greece, Italy, Southern USA - have all been either subtropical or islands.
Malaria is geographically specific.
Countries that eliminated malaria last century - Greece, Italy, Southern USA - have all been either subtropical or islands.
Intensive efforts to eliminate malaria in the most severely affected tropical countries, mainly in Africa, have been largely ineffective.
This is because the mosquito that is the most efficient spreader of malaria - anopheles gambiae, is found exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa.
This is because the mosquito that is the most efficient spreader of malaria - anopheles gambiae, is found exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the 1960s, the WHO sponsored an intensive anti-malaria in the district of Garki, Nigeria, to try and see if malaria could be eradicated if you provide all financial resources needed for anti-malaria measures.
Over the course of 7 years, WHO and Nigerian government spent more than $6 million to try to eliminate malaria in 164 villages. Insecticide spraying of every hut, every medical thing possible, the works.
The efforts reduced the human-biting rate of mosquitoes in the Garki villages by 90% from their pre-study level, but despite this huge reduction in mosquito density, there was no significant change in the parasite rate among the villagers.
The efforts were defeated by the infection capacity of the mosquitoes which vastly exceed what was required to maintain transmission of malaria. Study showed that failure to control malaria in similar environments was not consequence of poverty or lack of institutional capacity.
Sub-Saharan Africa's climate is simply too perfect for mosquitos. The moral of this tale is not that nothing can be done or that African governments should get a pass for their obvious failures. Moral is that we also need to pay attention to other factors like health and climate.
Any developmental effort anywhere, including Africa, must take into account not just obvious factors like population number, GDP, number of skilled workers etc but also climate, geography and general health conditions.
Development must be planned practically, not theoretically.
Development must be planned practically, not theoretically.
