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Malaria strikes Africa's GDP
Business Report
2000-04-28

Africa's economic output would be $100-billion (about R660-billion) higher this year if malaria had been eliminated in the continent 35 years ago.

Africa's economic output would be $100-billion (about R660-billion) higher this year if malaria had been eliminated in the continent 35 years ago, according to research announced on 25/4. The evidence strongly suggests that malaria obstructs overall economic development in Africa, Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Centre for International Development at Harvard University, told African leaders at a summit meeting here. Since 1990, the per person GDP (gross domestic product) in many sub-Saharan African countries has declined and malaria is an important reason for this poor economic performance. According to a study conducted in co-operation with the London School of Tropical Medicine, sub-Saharan Africa's GDP would be up to 32 percent greater this year if malaria had been wiped out in 1965, when efforts were first made, he said. This would represent up to $100-billion added to sub-Saharan Africa's current GDP of $300-billion. The extra is almost five times all development aid provided to Africa last year. The short-term benefits of malaria control can be estimated at between $3-billion and $12-billion a year, depending on outside factors, he said. African leaders called on 25/4 for $1-billion in assistance for the fight against the disease. Malaria exerts a series of short-term costs, from lost work time to costs linked to infant and child mortality and treatment and prevention. It also carries longer-term costs, including impeding the flows of trade, foreign investment and commerce. The annual loss of growth from malaria is estimated to range as high as 1,3 percent per year, Sachs said. The cost of malaria is substantially greater than economists have previously estimated. (Source: Business Report, 26 April 2000)

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