Review Article

Burden of Malaria at Household Level: A Baseline Review in the Advent of Climate Change

Md. Shahin Mia, Rawshan Ara Begum, Ah-Choy Er, Raja Datuk Zaharaton Raja Zainal Abidin and Joy Jacqueline Pereira

Malaria is the most serious public health problem in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. It has emerged one of the top three killers among the vector borne diseases in the world. Changes in climate factors greatly affect seasonal transmission and geographical distribution of malaria which causes great losses to the households in terms of costs of securing treatment as well as loss of output and income in endemic regions. This study aims to identify and review literature related to economic costs of malaria illness at household level. The study also focuses on the burden of the disease in terms of Disability-adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost. Literatures were identified for review from various sources such as journals, reports, proceedings and other related documents by searching comprehensively both electronic and non-electronic databases. Websites of the organizations known to have undertaken research in this area were also searched to find related documents and reports. Based on the review of literature, it was found that costs of malaria vary by the socio-economic status of households and the poor spend a significantly higher proportion of their income on treatment and preventive measures for the disease. Direct cost of malaria consumed 28-34% of annual income of poor households and 1-2% of high income households. Studies revealed that indirect costs of malaria accounted for a significant portion of households’ annual income ranging from 2 to 6%. It was found that even under minimal climate change scenario, some African countries may face their inpatient treatment cost of malaria increase more than 20%. It can be concluded that illness of malaria imposes greater burden on poor households than the better-off. Minimizing the burden of the disease could help people, especially the poor to get out from the worst economic situation. Therefore, further research is urgently needed to ensure interventions to control the malaria disease more effectively in the advent of climate change.

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Md. Shahin Mia, Rawshan Ara Begum, Ah-Choy Er, Raja Datuk Zaharaton Raja Zainal Abidin and Joy Jacqueline Pereira, 2012. Burden of Malaria at Household Level: A Baseline Review in the Advent of Climate Change. Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 5: 1-15.

DOI: 10.3923/jest.2012.1.15

URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=jest.2012.1.15

Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

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Authors

Md. Shahin Mia

Rawshan Ara Begum

Ah-Choy Er

Raja Datuk Zaharaton Raja Zainal Abidin

Joy Jacqueline Pereira

Keywords

Review Article

Burden of Malaria at Household Level: A Baseline Review in the Advent of Climate Change

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