Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Subsaharan Africa, malaria's virulence results from the
effectiveness of its vectors—three African mosquitoes
(
Anopheles gambiae, A. arabiensis
, and
A. funestus
). Whole
populations are affl icted, and entire regions have been
abandoned because of the prevalence of the disease.
Antimalarial drugs exist, but to defeat malaria,
affl icted regions must eliminate the vector: the mosquito.
During the 1940s, the government of Sri Lanka (then
Ceylon) launched a massive attack on the mosquito with
the aid of a pesticide called
dichloro diphenyl trichloroeth-
ane
(DDT). The results were dramatic. The mosquito was
practically wiped out, and the rate of deaths attributable
to malaria fell markedly. In 1945, Sri Lanka's death rate
overall had been 22 per 1000; in 1972, it reported a death
rate of only 8 per 1000. The fi gure was further reduced
to 5 per 1000 by 2004 and then rose again to 7 in 2009, as
refl ected in Figure 10.10.
The conquest of malaria produced a new set of
problems, however. DDT proved to be highly carcino-
genic and to have negative health and environmental
consequences of its own. Also, the lowered death rate
through malaria eradication led to a substantial rise in
the population growth rate, creating new problems for
Sri Lanka. By the time the birth rate dropped (it is 19
per 1000 today), the island had experienced a popula-
tion explosion.
Success in combating major vectored diseases often
is only temporary. Following the Sri Lankan experiment,
India initiated a massive assault against the malaria mos-
quito, and the number of new cases of malaria declined
dramatically. But ten years after the program was intro-
duced, India reported that 60 million people were
infected with malaria, more than half the number who
had the disease before the antimalaria campaign began.
This example proved the mosquito population's ability
to rebound quickly after even the most intensive applica-
tion of pesticides.
Today the war against malaria is taking a new tack:
genetic interference with the mosquito so that its capacity
to transmit the malaria parasite,
Plasmodium
, is destroyed.
By introducing “engineered” mosquitoes into the gen-
eral population, health experts hope that the number of
nonvirulent mosquitoes will rise signifi cantly. A number
of programs also focus on distributed insecticide-laden
mosquito nets to surround sleeping quarters and protect
people from the mosquitoes that are most active at night
(Fig. 10.11).
and lead a low-income country can be a daunting task. In
peripheral countries, a wide divide often exists between
the very wealthy and the poorest of the poor. In Kenya,
for example, the wealthiest 10 percent of the population
controls nearly 50 percent of the country's wealth, and the
poorest 10 percent control less than 1 percent of Kenya's
wealth. The disenfranchisement of the poor and the com-
petition among the rich for control of the government
(and the potential spoils that go along with that) can lead
to extreme political instability within a state—as Kenya
experienced in 2007-2008. Add to these factors involve-
ment from outside the country, especially by powerful
countries, and the political instability can easily escalate,
yielding horrid conditions in which military dictators,
selfi sh megalomaniacs, and corrupt governments can
come to power.
Countries of the core have established democracies
for themselves; since World War II, they have held reg-
ularly scheduled democratic elections. But countries in
the periphery and semiperiphery have had a much harder
time establishing and maintaining democracies. In the
process of decolonization, the colonizing countries typi-
cally left governments that refl ected political and social
hierarchies during the colonial period. Some failed, some
were overthrown by military coups, and some saw the
consolidation of power around a dictatorial strongman.
Many countries in the periphery and semiperiphery have
alternated repeatedly between quasi-democratic and
military governments. Some argue that without consid-
erable wealth, maintaining a liberal democracy is all but
impossible.
Opening the homepage of any major newspaper on
any given day will reveal a story somewhere in the world
that demonstrates the link between economic stability
and political stability. In post-Taliban Afghanistan, eco-
nomic woes represent one of the greatest threats to the
stability of the United States-supported government
in Kabul. More than half of the population is impover-
ished, and the government lacks the funds to invest in
development. Foreign aid—much of it from the United
States—has provided some help, but the fl ow of aid has
been variable and its amount insuffi cient to address the
country's searing economic problems. Many analysts
see this as a key impediment to achieving stability in
Afghanistan. As the
Economist
put it in 2006, “poverty
helps the Taliban.”
In places where poverty is rampant, politicians often
become corrupt, misusing aid and exacerbating the plight
of the poor. In Zimbabwe, the year 2002 left many people
starving, as poor weather conditions created a meager
harvest. The country's ruling party, ZANU-PF, headed
by Robert Mugabe, demanded cards from Zimbabweans
who registered for the “food for work” program—cards
demonstrating membership in the ZANU-PF politi-
cal party. As conditions worsened in subsequent years,
Political Corruption and Instability
Although not addressed in the Millennium Development
goals, political corruption and instability can greatly
impede economic development as well. Establishing a sta-
ble, legitimate government that can maintain control over
