Malaria and Poverty in Africa

Abstract

Malaria is a serious health and economic problem in Africa, afflicting more than half of the continent's population. Although HICV/AIDS, TB and nutritional deficiencies pose major development problems on the continent, the challenges presented by malaria are of a different kind, because the disease is widespread, persistent and grossly underestimated by the general population. The importance of malaria, along with HIV/AIDS and other diseases in the development agenda, is now recognised in Goal 6 of the Millennium Goals. This book provides the evidence required to design and implement malaria control strategies in Africa. The chapters analyse the nexus between poverty and malaria with a focus on policies that can be implemented at various levels of society to fight the disease. Malaria and Poverty in Africa is the outcome of a research sponsored by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). Augustin Kwasi Fosu is the Director, Economic Division of the United Nations Commision for Africa, Addis Ababa, and former Director of Research at the AERC, Nairobi. Germano Mwabu is Professor of Economics at the University of Nairobi. He was co-director of the AERC project on Poverty Income Distribution and Labour Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.