Malaria’s Poor Choice

Introduction

Malaria kills a child every 45 seconds and over 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur in Africa. An analysis of over 5,000 studies from the past 30 years on the link between malaria risk and socio-economic status of children aged 15 and less has shown that poorer children have double the chance of catching the disease than their better-off counterparts within the same community.

Factors like better educated parents, quality of housing, access to treated bed nets and anti-malarials and improved nutritional status in rich households might be the reason behind this. The findings suggest that poverty alleviation can protect children against malaria.

Source

Down To Earth, July 2013