Health and sustainable development are
intricately interwoven. Communities under pressure
from a barrage of endemic diseases face tremendous
obstacles in achieving an improved quality of life,
and the impact of these diseases on a community’s
capacity to develop is immense. The various determinants
of these diseases include ecological/environmental
changes such as those arising from developmental projects,
unplanned urbanization, and continuous movements of
populations and some of the factors that stimulate
the rise of new epidemics include: alterations in
agricultural practices and land use, changes in society
and human demographics, poor population health (e.g.
malnutrition, HIV/AIDS), hospitals and medical procedures,
evolution of the pathogen (e.g. increased virulence,
drug resistance), contamination of water supplies
and food sources, international travel, failure of
public health programmes, international trade, and
climate change.
In sub-Saharan Africa the “big
five” endemic diseases are HIV/AIDS, malaria,
tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections (ARIs),
and the complex of ailments lumped into the category
of water-borne diseases. Children are most affected
in nearly all cases. Globally, the major causes of
death in children under five are pneumonia, diarrhoea,
malnutrition, malaria, measles and newborn illnesses.
In Africa, malaria is the leading cause of death in
young children. Diarrhoea and ARIs are high on the
list as well, as are some vaccine-preventable diseases
like measles.
Today, sub-Saharan Africa is more heavily
affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region of
the world. The disease has ravished the productive
generations in a number of high-incidence countries.
Malaria also has a significant impact on productivity,
and the rise in HIV infection has produced a bi-directional
increase in tuberculosis. These and other diseases
pose a particular challenge to health systems that
have tended to focus on treating disease rather than
preventing it. While a number of countries have taken
new approaches to health care delivery, there is still
resistance to the innovative change needed to address
socio-political and economic realities of the present
and future decades.
Strategies for prevention and control
of these diseases in the context of socio-political
and economic constraints of the affected countries
must be designed. With better vaccine coverage, for
example, along with access to clean water, wider use
of bed nets and better education of caregivers, most
child deaths could be prevented. Anti-retroviral therapy,
where it is available, has made AIDS a manageable
condition rather than a death sentence. TB is curable
if diagnosed in time and treated properly. But particular
attention needs to be given to the knowledge base,
beliefs, perceptions and practices of the population
by incorporating active community participation in
prevention and intervention practices. Broad interventions
to reduce infant and under-five mortality rates are
well known, and include the education of girls to
secondary school level (educated mothers have healthier
children); access to antenatal and delivery care;
improved health care services, including immunization;
improved sanitation, including access to safe drinking
water; more and better trained health service providers;
and improved status of women. One problem is the political
will to take the necessary steps; another is the availability
of necessary drugs, non-pharmaceutical supplies and
equipment at affordable prices. Both of these are
affected by economic policy decisions, and this is
where the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
comes in.
Thus, Endemic Diseases and Development
is the theme the plenary session of AERC’s Biannual
Research Workshop, which opens at 9:00 am on Sunday,
30 November 2008 at The Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi,
Kenya. To be chaired by Dr. Hezron Nyangito,
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, the
session will feature four presentations by eminent
economists: Paul Schulz of Yale University,
USA, will start off the proceedings with a look at
“Endemic diseases and the welfare of the African
household: Challenges and policy responses”.
Next, “Endemic diseases and agricultural sector
productivity: Challenges and policy responses”
will be presented by Martine Audibert,
Centre of Study and Research in International Development
(CERDI), France. Maureen Mackintosh
and Phares G.M. Mujinja of Open University,
UK, and Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences,
Tanzania, respectively, will then speak on “Markets
and policy challenges in access to essential medicines
for endemic disease”. The final paper, on “Endemic
diseases and African economic growth: Challenges and
policy responses”, will be by Davis N. Weil,
Brown University, USA. All these papers will be discussed
by eminent economists from Africa and the rest of
the world.
Concurrent sessions of the workshop
start on Monday, 1 December 2008. They will feature
79 presentations of research proposals, work in progress,
final reports and interim PhD thesis reports. These
will cover a wide range of topics that fit into one
or the other of the focal areas of AERC’s thematic
research programme: poverty, income distribution
and labour market issues; macroeconomic policies,
investment and growth; finance and resource mobilization;
trade and regional integration; political economy
and sectoral policy issues. The workshop will
also host the fourth appearance of the students of
AERC’s Collaborative PhD Programme.
AERC is a leader in policy-oriented
economic research in the continent, and its biannual
research workshops have become the largest gatherings
of professional economists in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Consortium was established in 1988 as a public
not-for-profit organi¬zation devoted to building
capacity for economic policy research into problems
pertinent to the management of economies in sub-Saharan
Africa. This is carried out through two main programmes:
research and training.
In response to the special needs of
the region, the AERC Research Programme uses a flexible
approach to improve the technical skills of local
researchers, allow for regional determination of research
priorities, strengthen national institutions concerned
with economic policy research, and facilitate closer
ties between researchers and policy makers. The Training
Programme augments the pool of economic researchers
in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting collaborative
graduate programmes in economics – at both master’s
and PhD levels – as well as improving the capacities
of departments of economics in local public universities.
AERC is supported by donor govern¬ments, private
foundations and international organizations.
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For more information about this workshop or AERC,
please contact:
The Executive Director
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Middle East Bank Towers, 3rd Floor, Milimani Road
Tel: (254-20) 273-4150 / 273-4157
Fax: (254-20) 273-4173
exec.dir@aercafrica.org
communications@aercafrica.org
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