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Impact on the Economies
of Poor Nations of Africa
Summary
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Infectious diseases are a major publichealth problem in the developing world
especially Africa but its economic impact
is not well documented.
Adequately capturing the economic
burden of infectious diseases in poor
countries requires good epidemiological
data and a better understanding of the
long-term health and economic costs.
Prevention and control efforts are scare,
and fail to adequately capture the
benefits.
UGANDAN HEALTH STATS (UNICEF)
Major infectious diseases > Degree
of risk
Very high
Drug access
50%
HIV AIDS > Adult prevalence rate
4.1%
HIV AIDS > Deaths
78,000
Hospital beds > per 1,000 people
0.92
Malaria cases > per 100,000
46
Physicians > per 1,000 people
0.08
Life expectancy at birth, years >
49
Total population
Maternal mortality
510 per 100,000
Children living with AIDS (per
4.03388 per 1,000 people
capita)
Diseases for the poor
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Many infectious diseases are frequently
referred to as diseases of the poor. At a
macro level, there is clear evidence that the
burden of infectious diseases is greatest
among the poorest countries of the world,
especially those in sub-Saharan Africa
Disease and poverty have taken such a serious
toll on Africa that the death rate is
constantly rising. Not to mention the great
population that is also steady increasing at an
alarming rate, creating more famine and
disease to spread throughout the land.
Economic burden
Information on the economic burden of
infectious diseases in Africa can help to
target interventions efficiently and
equitably, and to justify investment in
research and control.
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Such data can inform our understanding
of the financial and time burdens of
illness episodes, the determinants of
treatment-seeking behavior, and the
differential
economic
impact
on
population subgroups.
Issues related to disease problems
in Africa
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Infectious diseases are on the rise and now kill 17 million
people a year, particularly young people in the developing
world.
The concern over new viruses, started with HIV causing
AIDS, has been reinforced as other emergent viral
diseases have been reported, including Ebola and Rift
Valley Fever.
Growing drug resistance, new virulent strains, continuing
poverty, the breakdown of public health measures, and
increased human contact are leading to renewed outbreaks
of other epidemic diseases.
Travel and urbanization are increasing human vulnerability
to epidemics of both old and emerging diseases.
There is also concern that climate change may have
significant effects on health.
Reduction in Life Expectancy
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Tuberculosis is now the world's single largest cause of
death from a single agent. At the rate TB is spreading, it
could claim over 100 million lives over the next 50 years.
The association of TB with the AIDS epidemic is one of
the main reasons for the increase.
There are presently about 300-500 million clinical cases of
malaria a year, 90 percent in Africa, and malaria deaths
rose 5 percent in 1995, killing 2.1 million people, mostly
children.
Global warming could cause another 50-80 million cases as
disease-bearing mosquitoes move into new areas.
While life expectancy has generally been increasing for
decades, there has been a sharp reversal in recent years
in sub-Saharan Africa. Causes may include the stresses of
economic transition, deteriorating health care, and
possibly the toxic burden of decades of environmental
contamination.
In Africa, the AIDS epidemic is expected to reduce
average life expectancy by almost 8 years
Disease and Poverty
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HIV/AIDS has already destroyed so many lives in Africa since
the 1980’s and is continuing to demise a majority of the
population. Sometimes people receive the disease because of the
increased spread of poverty or a traditional family breakdown of
support systems. So many people have contracted the disease
but cannot afford to take on the medical expenses and end up
suffering until their death.
Orphans roam the streets of Africa because many of their family
members have passed away from the disease and they are left to
survive on their own. Africa has the world’s highest and most
rapidly increasing spread of HIV/AIDS with 40% of the
population already contracted the disease being the ages of 1549 years.
Vultures feasting on
Some people in Africa do not want
diseases
the diseases to be eliminated simply
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because they benefit from their
existence. E.g. pharmacists, the
doctors, governments, treatment
facilities, local communities and
regional leaders.
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The governments receive huge
amounts of donations to fight these
diseases every year, and each year,
the funds are diverted. A campaign
to spray using DDT was strongly
objected
although
this
could
eradicate diseases like malaria in no
time. Some health workers are also
reluctant to promote control and
prevention
measures
against
diseases.
Frustrated campaigns
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Mark Grabowsky, wrote in Nature 451, 1051-1052 (28
February 2008) that “Several years ago, I was explaining
the value of a measles-vaccination campaign to a doctor at
a pediatric hospital in northern Uganda, where, at that
time, measles was endemic. The proposed campaign would
control the disease and potentially enable the hospital to
close the measles ward. The doctor responded that if
there was also a campaign that controlled malaria he could
close the entire hospital"
Individuals too are also frustrating all campaigns, and
retarding prevention measures in rural villages, due to
ignorance and misinformation.
Why Africa is prone to
infectious diseases
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Long distances from health centers
Lack of funds to buy medicines
Self medication
Incomplete doses
Lack of drugs in health centers
High consultation fees
Ignorance,-some people don’t understand
why sleeping under mosquito nets
prevents malaria
The economic impact of diseases in
Africa
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Africa's economic problems have a medical solution.
Infectious disease is much more than a health issue. They
cost the continent billions of dollars a year.
Malaria kills three children per minute. This amounts to a
quiet global catastrophe. Quiet, because it has been taking
place for millennia and become a fact of everyday life. In
Mozambique, malaria patients occupy 40% of the nation's
hospital beds. And these are just the people fortunate
enough to make it to a health centre.
Fighting disease must be a central, not ancillary, part of
the economic strategy for Africa - on a par with debt
relief and trade liberalization - if countries in Africa are
to achieve the significant boost in economic growth, that
all sides agree is critical to reducing extreme poverty.
Infectious diseases have crippled African efforts to
achieve economic self-sufficiency for at least the last
half-century - predating the debt crises, corruption and
trade matters.
More disease burden
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Many infectious diseases, especially Aids and TB, exact a
heavy toll that goes beyond the pain and suffering that
victims of these diseases endure.
The damage also manifests itself in a significant and
quantifiable drag on Africa's GDP. Currently, 300 to 500
million cases of malaria occur every year. Of the estimated
2.7 million people killed by malaria every year, 75% are
African children under the age of five.
When an individual dies, it takes a minimum of three days
to make funeral arrangements, while the entire village is
gathered at the home. The bereaved are obligated to feed
the comforts, and house them as well. People are forced to
borrow funds during times they are moaning their loved
ones. More people take time off from work for burial
ceremonies, while companies suffer shortage of workers
during such times.
Uganda and Global
warming
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In Uganda, global warming causes a related problem,
namely early marriages. It occurs because rich men are
ready to marry young females. This is a conclusion of a
scientific report funded by the United Nations that has
identified "famine marriages", i.e. a new method for
families to earn money and food by selling their daughters.
Famine marriages
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"When people don't have food, they raid and sell
their daughters and animals to get money to buy
food. Whenever they raid, they bring along sick
animals with strange diseases that affect the
rest of the livestock and the young girls are
married off to rich men with a lot of diseases,"
it was reported by a local newspaper, The
Monitor.
Global warming: disease threat
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More countries will be at risk from mosquito-borne
diseases like malaria and dengue due to global warming,
according to Global Health TV.
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Rising temperatures could affect many countries that have
not reported an outbreak of malaria in decades.
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If temperatures and rainfall rise, mosquitoes would thrive
for longer and breed more prolifically.
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The threat of global warming has already sparked concerns
in the Philippines, with health secretary foreseeing "a
propensity for cholera, dengue, typhoid [fever] and
malaria".
Way forward
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If world leaders and their counterparts in Africa
want to boost GDP, they should consider that
diseases like malaria exact an enormous price not
only in lives, but also in medical costs and lost
labor, harming the economic well-being of entire
families, communities and nations. Malaria
shackles the poor to a continuous cycle of
poverty.
The economic, social and development burden is
staggering. According to a Harvard University
study published in 2000, Africa's annual GDP
would be 100bn (£66bn) more than it is today if
malaria had been eliminated 35 years ago - many
times more than all the development aid provided
to the continent in any given year.
Way forward
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Meaningful economic development in
Africa cannot occur if addressing
infectious disease is seen as a secondary
goal rather than a critical part of the new
vision for economic stability. This will
require
those
responsible
for
implementing a new economic plan for
Africa to broaden their notion of what
constitutes
a
successful
core
macroeconomic strategy.
Conclusion
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No one would argue with the need to reduce the human
suffering caused by malaria, Aids, TB and neglected
tropical diseases. But it is doubtful that infectious
diseases will receive the attention they merit in the effort
to lift African nations from poverty unless world leaders
firmly link disease burden to economic development.
Failure to do so means that infectious disease will continue
to rob Africa - a continent of more than 800 million people
- of its economic potential.