Eliminating malaria in the American South: An analysis of the decline of malaria in 1930s Alabama

D. Sledge and G. Mohler

American Journal of Public Health, 2013, vol. 103, issue 8, 1381-1392

Abstract: Until the 1930s, malaria was endemic throughout large swaths of the American South. We used a Poisson mixture model to analyze the decline of malaria at the county level in Alabama (an archetypical Deep South cotton state) during the 1930s. Employing a novel data set, we argue that, contrary to a leading theory, the decline of malaria in the American South was not caused by population movement away from malarial areas or the decline of Southern tenant farming. We elaborate and provide evidence for an alternate explanation that emphasizes the role of targeted New Deal-era public health interventions and the development of local-level public health infrastructure. We show that, rather than disappearing as a consequence of social change or economic improvements, malaria was eliminated in the Southern United States in the face of economic dislocation and widespread and deep-seated poverty. © 2013 American Journal of Public Health.

Keywords: article; Bayes theorem; history; human; malaria; Poisson distribution; population dynamics; public health service; United States, Alabama; Bayes Theorem; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Malaria; Poisson Distribution; Population Dynamics; Public Health Practice; Southeastern United States; Southwestern United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2012.301065_6

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301065

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