A global history of malaria that traces the natural and social forces
that have shaped its spread and made it deadly, while limiting efforts
to eliminate it.
Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people--and kills nearly a half
a million--each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease,
it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But
malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did
malaria disappear from other regions, and why does it persist in the
tropics?
From Russia to Bengal to Palm Beach, Randall M. Packard's far-ranging
narrative shows how the history of malaria has been driven by the
interplay of social, biological, economic, and environmental forces. The
shifting alignment of these forces has largely determined the social and
geographical distribution of the disease, including its initial global
expansion, its subsequent retreat to the tropics, and its current
persistence. Packard argues that efforts to control and eliminate
malaria have often ignored this reality, relying on the use of
biotechnologies to fight the disease. Failure to address the forces
driving malaria transmission have undermined past control efforts.
Describing major changes in both the epidemiology of malaria and efforts
to control the disease, the revised edition of this acclaimed history,
which was chosen as the 2008 End Malaria Awards Book of the Year in its
original printing,
- examines recent efforts to eradicate malaria following massive
increases in funding and political commitment;
- discusses the development of new malaria-fighting biotechnologies,
including long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, rapid diagnostic tests,
combination artemisinin therapies, and genetically modified
mosquitoes;
- explores the efficacy of newly developed vaccines; and
- explains why eliminating malaria will also require addressing the
social forces that drive the disease and building health infrastructures
that can identify and treat the last cases of malaria.
Authoritative, fascinating, and eye-opening, this short history of
malaria concludes with policy recommendations for improving control
strategies and saving lives.
