Economic inequality caused by feedbacks between poverty and the dynamics of a rare tropical disease: the case of Buruli ulcer in sub-Saharan Africa

Andres Garchitorena (), Calistus N. Ngonghala, Jean-Francois Guegan, Gaëtan Texier, Martine Bellanger (), Matthew Bonds and Benjamin Roche
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Andres Garchitorena: EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP], MIVEGEC - Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IRD [Occitanie] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre Pasteur du Cameroun - Pasteur Network (Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur)
Calistus N. Ngonghala: HMS - Harvard Medical School [Boston]
Jean-Francois Guegan: ICM - Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle Epinière = Brain and Spine Institute - UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP] - AP-HP - Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) - SU - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Gaëtan Texier: CESPA - Centre d'épidémiologie et de santé publique des armées [Marseille] - Service de Santé des Armées
Martine Bellanger: EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP], EA MOS - EA Management des Organisations de Santé - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité
Matthew Bonds: HMS - Harvard Medical School [Boston], Stanford University
Benjamin Roche: UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne

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Abstract: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have received increasing attention in recent years by the global heath community, as they cumulatively constitute substantial burdens of disease as well as barriers for economic development. A number of common tropical diseases such as malaria, hookworm or schistosomiasis have well-documented economic impacts. However, much less is known about the population-level impacts of diseases that are rare but associated with high disability burden, which represent a great number of tropical diseases. Using an individual-based model of Buruli ulcer (BU), we demonstrate that, through feedbacks between health and economic status, such NTDs can have a significant impact on the economic structure of human populations even at low incidence levels. While average wealth is only marginally affected by BU, the economic conditions of certain subpopulations are impacted sufficiently to create changes in measurable population-level inequality. A reduction of the disability burden caused by BU can thus maximize the economic growth of the poorest subpopulations and reduce significantly the economic inequalities introduced by the disease in endemic regions.

Keywords: neglected tropical diseases; coupled ecological-economic systems; individual-based model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-11-04
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Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2015, 282 (1818), pp.20151426. ⟨10.1098/rspb.2015.1426⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01504696

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1426

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