Burden &Economics &Equity Bill Brieger | 22 Feb 2014 09:19 am
Rural Health and Malaria, a South Africa Example
South Africa’s Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) has released a report or fact sheet on rural health in South African provinces. Of interest is the overlap of rural problems and malaria endemicity. Three Provinces that border Mozambique are also endemic for malaria – from north to south: Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwa Zulu Natal (KZN).
Seven of the 10 poorest districts in the country fall in two of these endemic provinces, Limpopo and KZN. The two districts with the highest HIV prevalence are in Mpumalanga and KZN, and those two provinces themselves have the highest HIV prevalence among all the provinces.
The fact sheet also reports that, “Poor rural households in a Limpopo District spend up to 80% of monthly income on health expenditure, travel costs being a significant contributor.”
Limpopo and Mpumalanga are among the four provinces with the lowest distribution (or highest shortages) of human resources for health. Concerning maternal mortality, the fact sheet notes that, “Each year an estimated 4300 mothers die. KZN most affected.”
While one cannot say the exact role malaria plays in rural poverty and rural health disparities, it is important to note that interventions to control and eliminate the disease must have a strong rural focus. Hopefully there will be economic benefits to such interventions.