scholarly journals Evidence for the impact of malaria on agricultural household income in sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek W. Willis ◽  
Nick Hamon

Background: Progress in suppressing malaria over the next two decades may have a significant impact on poverty among agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa. A recent study found that if malaria were eradicated by 2040, poverty rates among such households would fall by 4 to 26 percentage points more from 2018 to 2040 than if the burden of malaria remained at its current level. The relatively wide range of these estimates is due to a lack of evidence regarding the long-term impact of suppressing malaria on the incomes of agricultural households. The objective of this study is to describe a research framework that would generate the necessary evidence for developing more precise estimates. Methods: First, we developed a conceptual framework for understanding the potential long-term impact of suppressing malaria on the incomes of agricultural households. Next, we established a research framework for examining each component of the conceptual framework. Results: Our proposed research framework enables a comprehensive examination of how malaria affects the decisions, productivity, harvest value and expenditures due to morbidity and mortality within an agricultural household. This contrasts with the 27 existing relevant studies that we have identified, of which 23 focused only on household productivity and expenditures, two focused on decisions, and two focused on harvest values. Conclusion: By implementing the research framework presented in this study, we will increase our knowledge of how suppressing malaria over the next two decades would affect the incomes of agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence generated from the framework will inform funding allocation decisions for malaria elimination initiatives.

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J. Siedner

Objective: The number of people living with HIV (PLWH) over 50 years old in sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to triple in the coming decades, to 6-10 million. Yet, there is a paucity of data on the determinants of health and quality of life for older PLWH in the region. Methods: A review was undertaken to describe the impact of HIV infection on aging for PLWH in sub-Saharan Africa. Results: We (a) summarize the pathophysiology and epidemiology of aging with HIV in resource-rich settings, and (b) describe how these relationships might differ in sub-Saharan Africa, (c) propose a conceptual framework to describe determinants of quality of life for older PLWH, and (d) suggest priority research areas needed to ensure long-term gains in quality of life for PLWH in the region. Conclusions: Differences in traditional, lifestyle, and envirnomental risk factors, as well as unique features of HIV epidemiology and care delivery appear to substantially alter the contribution of HIV to aging in sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, unique preferences and conceptualizations of quality of life will require novel measurement and intervention tools. An expanded research and public health infrastructure is needed to ensure that gains made in HIV prevention and treamtent are translated into long-term benefits in this region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-310
Author(s):  
Guy Blaise Nkamleu ◽  

The world is facing unprecedented challenges from COVID-19, which is disrupting lives and livelihoods. The pandemic could profoundly affect the African continent and wipe out hard-won development gains, as sub-Saharan Africa heads into its first recession in 25 years. Beyond the multispatial impact of the coronavirus in Africa, its effects on the agriculture and food system is of particular interest, as food security could be the most affected area and, at the same time, agriculture could be the sector that could help African economies recover quicker from the impact of COVID19. This paper supports the view that COVID-19, as devilish as it may be, offers an opportunity to revive interest in the agricultural sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed immense pressures on African countries to raise additional resources, and consequently Africa’s growing public debt is again coming back to the centre stage of the global debate. The conversation on African debt sustainability has begun to dominate the scene and will flood the debate in the near term. While the observed, growing calls for debt relief for African countries are legitimate, we support in this paper that one should not divert attention from the long-term solutions needed to strengthen Africa’s resilience. These long-term solutions lie where they always have: in agriculture. With COVID-19, shipping agricultural inputs and food products from other continents to Africa has become disrupted and is accelerating the trend towards shortening supply chains. This will leave a potential market for inputs and food produced on the continent. COVID-19, together with the launching of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), have aligned the stars in favour of a decisive transformation of the agriculture sector on the continent. Agriculturalists and development experts need to be aware of their responsibility at this time, as they need to advocate for the topic of agricultural development to return to the centre and the heart of the agenda of discussions on how to respond to the consequences of Covid-19 in Africa. In this sense, and unexpectedly, COVID-19 is an opportunity for the agricultural sector.


Author(s):  
Julia Girard ◽  
Philippe Delacote ◽  
Antoine Leblois

Abstract Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is regularly threatened by the occurrence of weather shocks. We wonder whether the way farmers respond to shocks can affect land use and induce deforestation. Reviewing the existing literature, we found that this question has only been marginally studied. Drawing from the adaptation and land-use change literatures, we then expose the mechanisms through which weather shocks can push farmers to induce land-use change, or conversely to foster conservation. As farmers cope with shocks, their responses can cause degradations in ecosystems which could, in the long term, encourage deforestation and land-use change. To prepare for the next growing season, or adapt to climate variability and risk in the longer term, farmers also make structural adjustments in their farm and land-use decisions, which may lead to changes in land holding. They also resort to adaptation strategies that can indirectly affect land-use decisions by affecting households’ resources (labor, income).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tye

The growth of cities places urbanization as one of the 21st century’s most significant global trends. As urban populations in sub-Saharan Africa increase so do food insecurities. One long-term strategy used by households to improve access to nutritional food is to practice urban agriculture. This raises the question of what the impact might be on cities if urban farmers were better supported through training. This issue is important for women who play a strong role in urban farming. The central goals of this study are to analyze and evaluate the impact of urban agriculture based training on individual women. This study was informed by primary and secondary data. The findings are the result of in-depth qualitative research in Nairobi, Kenya. The research reveals that the urban agriculture training is having a positive impact on female participants. Recommendations to further enhance the impact of training on the female participants are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek W. Willis ◽  
Nick Hamon

Background: Ambitious goals have been set to eradicate malaria by the year 2040. Given the high poverty levels and the intense levels of malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, suppressing malaria in rural agricultural communities in these regions will be one of the greatest challenges to achieving malaria eradication. This study has two objectives. The first is to estimate how eradicating malaria by 2040 would affect agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa. The second is to identify where additional research is needed to develop better estimates of how eradicating malaria by 2040 would affect those households. Methods: Using agricultural census data and malaria morbidity data, we developed estimates of the number of malaria cases in 2018 among agricultural households with fewer than 10 hectares of land for 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. By combining these estimates with additional evidence from the literature, we analyzed how achieving malaria eradication by 2040 would affect indicators related to four Sustainable Development Goals: health, poverty, education and gender equality. Results: Our analysis found that achieving malaria eradication by 2040 would prevent approximately 841 million cases of malaria and thereby decrease the number of lost workdays among agricultural households by approximately 3.2 billion days. Eradicating malaria by 2040 would also increase the number of school days attended by children by 1.5 billion days while also reducing the number of caregiving days provided by women for malaria cases by approximately 1.1 billion days. Conclusions: This article analyzes the impact of eradicating malaria among agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa using indicators related to four of the Sustainable Development Goals. Enhanced data collection efforts related to these four indicators would facilitate more rigorous estimates of how eradicating malaria would affect these indicators over the next two decades.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tye

The growth of cities places urbanization as one of the 21st century’s most significant global trends. As urban populations in sub-Saharan Africa increase so do food insecurities. One long-term strategy used by households to improve access to nutritional food is to practice urban agriculture. This raises the question of what the impact might be on cities if urban farmers were better supported through training. This issue is important for women who play a strong role in urban farming. The central goals of this study are to analyze and evaluate the impact of urban agriculture based training on individual women. This study was informed by primary and secondary data. The findings are the result of in-depth qualitative research in Nairobi, Kenya. The research reveals that the urban agriculture training is having a positive impact on female participants. Recommendations to further enhance the impact of training on the female participants are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek W. Willis ◽  
Nick Hamon

Background: Reaching the goal of eradicating malaria by 2040, if achieved, would have a profound effect on farmers’ lives in sub-Saharan Africa. Our objective is to examine how achieving that goal would affect poverty rates of agricultural households. Methods: We analyzed the potential impact of eliminating malaria by 2040 on poverty rates among agricultural households in malarious regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Our model used ten scenarios to examine how the impact of eliminating malaria by 2040 on households’ income would affect the number of individuals living on less than $1.90 (2011 PPP) per day.  Results: We analyzed ten scenarios for malaria’s impact on agricultural household income from 2018 to 2040 for the approximately 324 million individuals in agricultural households in malarious regions of sub-Saharan Africa in 2018. We found that approximately 53 million to 123 million individuals would escape poverty by 2040 if malaria were eliminated by that year. If the malaria burden in agricultural households remained at its current level through 2040, only 40 million individuals would escape poverty by 2040, a decrease of only 24%. Therefore, the impact of eliminating malaria by 2040, relative to the status quo scenario through 2040, is that approximately 13 million to 84 million individuals in agricultural households will escape poverty.  Conclusions: The modeling analysis presented here is meant to be a starting point for additional research into the potential impact of eliminating malaria on the incomes of agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa. This study could be strengthened with the application of new methods to examine malaria’s impact on the welfare of agricultural households. We recommend the collection and analysis of longitudinal data from agricultural households in future studies of malaria’s impact on these households.


2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 465-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Jacob ◽  
Max Kapustin ◽  
Jens Ludwig

Abstract One long-standing motivation for low-income housing programs is the possibility that housing affordability and housing conditions generate externalities, including on children’s behavior and long-term life outcomes. We take advantage of a randomized housing voucher lottery in Chicago in 1997 to examine the long-term impact of housing assistance on a wide variety of child outcomes, including schooling, health, and criminal involvement. In contrast to most prior work focusing on families in public housing, we focus on families living in unsubsidized private housing at baseline, for whom voucher receipt generates large changes in both housing and nonhousing consumption. We find that the receipt of housing assistance has little, if any, impact on neighborhood or school quality or on a wide range of important child outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Michellier ◽  
Olivier Dewitte ◽  
François Kervyn

<p>Natural hazards have significant impact on society (people, assets, services, livelihoods and economic growth). Over the past decades, natural hazard disaster risks have increased globally. Due to high population densities, frequently on the rise and combined with high societal vulnerability, natural hazard disasters disproportionately hit regions of the Global south. In addition, these regions are environments where natural hazard and disaster risks are under-researched, and where the population remains under-informed. This is particularly the case of Sub-Saharan Africa: multiple challenges, such as economic development, population growth, environmental issues, and climate change associated to natural disasters risk, are burdened by scientific data scarcity associated with the lack of widely disseminated knowledge to the public. This has a significant negative impact on development.</p><p>To cope such a context, the Royal Museum for Central Africa works in partnership with 10 Central African institutions. In DRC, this partnership involves the Institut Géographique du Congo (Kinshasa and Goma), the Goma Volcano Observatory, the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles Lwiro, the Université Officielle de Bukavu, the Université de Goma and the Civil Protection (North and South Kivu); in Burundi, with the Université du Burundi; and, in Uganda, with the Mbarara University of Science and Technology.</p><p>The overall long-term objective of the partnership is to contribute to mitigating natural hazards and associated risks in Central Africa. More specifically, it aims to develop knowledge, expertise, awareness and support for local, national and regional initiatives by following three specific objectives: 1/ academic training of PhD and master students, in order to strengthen the local scientific knowledge regarding risk understanding and assessment, in support to local universities, 2/ hazard and disaster data collection through the development of two citizen scientists networks in collaboration with the Civil Protection in charge of disaster risk prevention and management, to promote long term data collection, storage and analysis, 3/ improving awareness and risk preparedness with the use of a natural disaster risk awareness-raising board game in secondary schools and the implementation of two local geohazards information centres, opened for the general public, in collaboration both with disaster risk managers and scientists of the region.</p><p>To summarise, the RMCA’s partnership aims to target a wide range of stakeholders concerned by natural hazard risks and disasters, from academic or research groups to citizens and policy makers, in the concern of enhancing disaster risk communication, and contribute to the development of risk culture. The impact of the tools implemented will be analysed with a view to contributing not only to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Action, but also to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals.</p>


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