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. 2022 Sep:77:102842.
doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102842. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Rebounding Malaria and the failures of eradication in Zanzibar: The World Health Organization campaign and the after effects, 1957-1985

Melissa Graboyes  1 , Judith Meta  2
Affiliations

Rebounding Malaria and the failures of eradication in Zanzibar: The World Health Organization campaign and the after effects, 1957-1985

Melissa Graboyes et al. Health Place. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

This article presents a case study of the WHO's malaria elimination attempt in Zanzibar and the decades after the program's conclusion in 1968. Drawing on archival, ethnographic, and interview data, we find that Zanzibar experienced a rebound malaria epidemic in the 1970s-1980s when prevalence rates surged higher than they were prior to the WHO's intervention. We show that scientists were aware of the risks of rebound before it happened and recognized the rebound epidemic as it was happening. We argue that many of the challenges facing Zanzibar in the 1960s remain dilemmas today, and many of the ethical questions about rebound malaria remain unaddressed.

Keywords: Global health ethics; Malaria; Malaria elimination; Rebound malaria; World Health Organization; Zanzibar.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest We have no competing interests to declare.

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