Health Costs and Benefits of DDT Use in Malaria Control and Prevention
The Millennium Development Goal of achieving near-zero malaria deaths by 2015 has led to a re-examination of wider use of DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) in indoor residual spraying as a prevention tool in many countries. However,...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/09/16815583/health-costs-benefits-ddt-use-malaria-control-prevention http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12067 |
| Summary: | The Millennium Development Goal of
achieving near-zero malaria deaths by 2015 has led to a
re-examination of wider use of DDT
(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) in indoor residual
spraying as a prevention tool in many countries. However,
the use of DDT raises concerns of potential harm to the
environment and human health, mainly because of the
persistent and bio-accumulative nature of DDT and its
potential to magnify through the food chain. This paper
quantifies the adverse effects of DDT on human health based
on treatment costs and indirect costs caused by illnesses
and death in countries that use or are expected to
re-introduce DDT in their disease vector control programs.
At the global level where the total population exposed to
DDT is estimated around 1.25 billion, the findings indicate
that while the use of DDT can lead to a significant
reduction in the estimated $69 billion in 2010 U.S. dollars
economic loss caused by malaria, it can also add more than
$28 billion a year in costs from the resulting adverse
health effects. At the country level, the results suggest
that Sub-Saharan African countries with high malaria
incidence rates are likely to see relatively larger net
benefits from the use of DDT in malaria control. The net
health benefits of reintroducing DDT in malaria control
programs could be better understood by weighing the costs
and benefits of DDT use based on a country's circumstances. |
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