Jeffrey Sachs And Malaney: A Theoretical Analysis

As one of the “big three” global infectious diseases, malaria is spreading at an alarming rate. That being said, what are some of the biological, social, economic, and ecological factors that influence malaria? These factors are addressed by Jeffrey Sachs and Pia Malaney in their article “The Economic and Social Burden of Malaria” as well as by Randall Packard in the first chapter of The Making of a Tropical Disease. While Sachs and Malaney primarily focus on the economic, social, and demographic factors that shape malaria, Packard focuses more heavily on biological aspects of the disease as well as ecological factors, modes of transmission, and the evolution of malaria. From these writings, some of the biological, social, economic, and ecological factors of malaria can be identified. Nevertheless, there are also other potentially significant anthropological factors …show more content…
As Packard discusses, malaria results from a parasitic protozoan infesting the bloodstream via vector transmission, consuming hemoglobin for food, and constantly reproducing. As a result, symptoms of this invasion include fever, chills, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, mental confusion, etc. Connecting malaria to coevolution, while Packard discusses the ability of malarial parasites to evolve and adapt, he also invokes that tropical populations have evolved biological defenses to certain types of malaria, referred to as acquired immunity. Understanding this evolutionary factor aids in the potential suppression of malaria considering that acquired immunity is not permanent. To explain, if an immune adult moves to a temperate, uninfected area for a few years and then returns to the tropics, he/she will likely suffer from malaria, having lost immunity. Hence, having immune adults remain stationary in the tropics has the potential to lower illness rates, for migration can cause a resurgence of adult