Malaria - Impacts on health, lifestyle and economic development

Malaria‘The study of one infectious disease (e.g. malaria, HIV/ AIDS) its global

distribution and its impact on health, economic development and lifestyle.’

It is estimated that 58% of Malaria deaths occur among the world’s poorest 20% of

the population

Source : World Bank 2000

The Global Distribution of Malaria

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Transmission

Do you know how malaria is spread?

Disease vector - Anopheles Mosquito

Malaria in Malawi

• Malaria is endemic in Malawi

• GDP – Ranked 152/190 ($4264 million) World Bank 2013

• Population 13,077,160 (2012)

• 6 Million cases of malaria annually (2011)

• 3rd ranking at 59 deaths per 100,000 of the population. (World Mapper)

• In the poorest households it costs them 32% of their annual income to treat the disease compared to 4.7% in better off households

• Poorest of the poor most at risk from mortality and morbidity

Impacts on HealthO Short Term Eg

O FeverO Flu like symptomsO ExhaustionO HeadachesO Incapacitated

O Long term EgO Learning disabilitiesO Cerebral PalsyO EpilepsyO Vulnerable to further infection

Health Facilities• Often lacking in

• Stable health staff• Staff• Medicine• Equipment

• Distance • travel expenses • Possible loss of earnings

Lifestyle

Children pulled out of school to work or care for family members

Orphans brought up by extended family members

So how does this affect Economic Development?• What do you think?

• Can you draw out a mind map to show links between the disease and it’s impact on economic development?

• ‘The Economic Burden of Malaria’

Possible Resultant Economic Impacts

• lost productivity for employers; a recent WHO report stated that malaria has cost Africa around £160 billion in productivity over the past 35 years

• lack of continuity in education – vital in helping the population to improve its lifestyle and job prospects

• reduced investment in an area – e.g. tourism, which is a good source of income for many tropical countries. (However, tourists are reluctant to visit some high-risk areas)

• undeveloped markets/economy due to unwillingness by large firms and businesses to travel into an area which has a high risk of malaria, compounded by lack of education and labour reliability

• growing of subsistence crops rather than cash crops eg maize, which would bring money into the country, due to the impact of disease on labour supply during harvest.

Cumulative Vulnerability

‘Where one lifestyle challenge comes on top of many others and makes the family abandon hope of change’

Therefore enforcing the Circle of Poverty

It is not through lack of knowledge or bad attitude that a mother may use a net for herself rather than for her children or a father use it to catch fish.

• Governments spend A LOT of money TREATING malaria

• Malaria costs African economies $12 billion a year

• Deaths caused by malaria slow progress towards reaching the UN’s Millennium Development Goals

= SLOW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

It would cost $1-3 billion per year to provide interventions

(UK SPENDS $37.2 Billion on Christmas alone)

Future

To control spread of malaria

To eliminate malaria

To eradicate it forever…….?