The Making of a Tropical Disease

A Short History of Malaria

By: Randall M. Packard

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Paperback | 27 October 2021 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

Paperback
352 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Age
18+

Dimensions(cm)
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3

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Winner, 2008 Book of the Year, End Malaria Awards, Malaria Foundation International Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people-and kills nearly a half a million-each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease, it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did malaria disappear from other regions, and why does it persist in the tropics?

From Russia to Bengal to Palm Beach, Randall M. Packard's far-ranging narrative shows how the history of malaria has been driven by the interplay of social, biological, economic, and environmental forces. The shifting alignment of these forces has largely determined the social and geographical distribution of the disease, including its initial global expansion, its subsequent retreat to the tropics, and its current persistence. Packard argues that efforts to control and eliminate malaria have often ignored this reality, relying on the use of biotechnologies to fight the disease. Failure to address the forces driving malaria transmission have undermined past control efforts.

Describing major changes in both the epidemiology of malaria and efforts to control the disease, the revised edition of this acclaimed history

examines recent efforts to eradicate malaria following massive increases in funding and political commitment
discusses the development of new malaria-fighting biotechnologies, including long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, rapid diagnostic tests, combination artemisinin therapies, and genetically modified mosquitoes
explores the efficacy of newly developed vaccines; and
explains why eliminating malaria will also require addressing the social forces that drive the disease and building health infrastructures that can identify and treat the last cases of malaria.

Authoritative, fascinating, and eye-opening, this short history of malaria concludes with policy recommendations for improving control strategies and saving lives.

About the Author

Randall M. Packard (ATLANTA, GA) is a professor of the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of White Plague, Black Labor: Tuberculosis and the Political Economy of Health and Disease in South Africa and A History of Global Health: Interventions into the Lives of other Peoples.

Industry Reviews

The Making of a Tropical Disease is a vigorously argued and accessibly narrated ecological history of malaria, a contribution as much to social medicine and studies in the political economy of disease as to medical history.

-- "Isis"

A fine book . . . This short book carries through its thoughtful approach with admirable power and consistency.

-- "Lancet"

A short, well-written, and exceptionally well-documented history and commentary on the possible control--and, hopefully, eradication--of one of the world's major diseases.

-- "Journal of the American Medical Association"

A terrific book that will guide the next generation of medical and environmental historians as global challenges to health persist and expand in the wake of unintended environmental change.

-- "International Journal of African Historical Studies"

An excellent and well-balanced book that will be of interest to a wide audience. It should be required reading for all those contemplating a second malaria eradication campaign.

-- "Nature Medicine"

Authoritative, fascinating, and eye-opening.

-- "Book Bargains and Previews"

Packard's lightness of touch allows his book to be both enjoyable and compelling, despite the frustration and heartbreak in his story.

-- "Journal of Interdisciplinary History"

The author can be congratulated for having tackled such a complex and difficult topic. His research and depth of knowledge on the topic as a historian are just amazing. He has also provided excellent references for further studies.

-- "Canadian Studies in Population"

This is a remarkable book that will be of great interest to any historian working on the history of disease and to those historians who deal with the difficult question of how to write sound and clear general histories.

-- "Bulletin of the History of Medicine"

Useful in collections that support tropical medicine, public health, and the history of medicine.

-- "Choice"

What gives a special energy to this volume is [the author's} conviction that the history of malaria is embedded in the history of development and that the lessons of this history must be applied to contemporary development policies.

-- "Journal of Global History"

What Randall M. Packard does masterfully in his book on malaria is to integrate the biological complexity of the disease into its historical, social and economic context, even if he stops short of drawing all the obvious conclusions from the data he so ably presents.

-- "Workers World"

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