Description: Health Costs and Benefits of DDT Use in Malaria Control and Prevention

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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,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Blankespoor, Brian, Dasgupta, Susmita, Lagnaoui, Abdelaziz, Roy, Subhendu
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:	ABORTION AIR ASTHMA BABIES BACK MALARIA BG BIODIVERSITY BLOOD SAMPLES BREAST CANCER BREAST MILK BURDEN OF DISEASE BURDEN OF MALARIA CANCER CANCER RESEARCH CHEMICALS CHILDHOOD DEATHS CLIMATE CLIMATES CONTROL OF MALARIA CONVULSIONS DDT DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIABETES DIAGNOSIS DIAGNOSTICS DIARRHEA DISABILITY DISEASE DISEASE PREVALENCE DISEASE REGISTRY DISEASE VECTOR DISEASES EARLY PREGNANCY ENDEMIC AREAS ENDEMIC COUNTRIES ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ETHANE ETHYLENE EXPENDITURES EXTERNALITIES EXTERNALITY FACT SHEET FERTILITY FETUS GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS GLOBAL POPULATION GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROUNDWATER HAZARD HEALTH COST HEALTH COSTS HEALTH EFFECTS HEALTH EXPENDITURES HEALTH PROBLEMS HEALTH RISKS HEALTH SERVICE HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN HEALTH HUMAN] HEALTH ILLNESS ILLNESSES INCOME INDIRECT COSTS OF MALARIA INFANT INFANT DEATHS INSECTICIDES LANDFILLS LEUKEMIA LIVER LIVER CANCER LOW BIRTH WEIGHT LUNG CANCER LYMPHOMA MALARIA MALARIA CASES MALARIA CONTROL MALARIA DEATHS MALARIA ENDEMIC COUNTRIES MALARIA INCIDENCE MALARIA REPORT MALARIA TRANSMISSION MALARIOUS AREAS MEAT MEDICAL TREATMENT MEDICINE MEDICINES MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL MORBIDITY MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY NATIONAL POPULATION NAUSEA NERVOUS SYSTEM NEUROTOXICOLOGY NUMBER OF PEOPLE NUTRITION ORGANIC POLLUTANTS ORGANOCHLORINES PANCREAS PARTICLES PATIENT PATIENTS PEDIATRICS PESTICIDES PHENOL POISONING POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POPULATION DATA POPULATION ESTIMATES POPULATION GROUPS PREGNANCIES PREGNANCY PREVALENCE PROGRESS PROSTATE PROSTATE CANCER PUBLIC HEALTH PURCHASING POWER PURCHASING POWER PARITY RISK FACTORS RISK OF EXPOSURE SARCOMA SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE STOMACH STOMACH CANCER THERAPIES TOXIC SUBSTANCES TOXINS TRANSPORTATION TREATMENT TUMORS UMBILICAL CORD VD VECTOR CONTROL VECTORS VISION WASTE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION YOUNG AGE YOUNG MEN YOUNG WOMEN
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

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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.