Immurana Mustapha, Abdullahi Ibrahim
Institute of Health Research, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana.
Department of Economics, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada.
J Health Popul Nutr. 2025 Aug 7;44(1):283. doi: 10.1186/s41043-025-00985-1.
Schistosomiasis is one of the parasitic diseases of poverty caused by larval forms of trematode worms. Individuals get infected upon contact with water infected by these larvae through skin penetration. Thus, poor people without access to basic water and sanitation services, among others are more likely to contract the disease. The greatest burden of the disease is found in Africa where over 200 million people require preventive treatment. Given that Africa has experienced economic growth in recent times, albeit with some declines, this study investigated the effect of per capita income on the prevalence of schistosomiasis in selected countries on the continent.
The study employed panel data on 35 African countries over the period 2002-2019. The data were obtained from the Global Burden of Diseases Study (GBD) 2021 database and the World Bank's World Development Indicators (WB's WDI) database. Prevalence of schistosomiasis i) among males and females (overall), ii) among males and iii) among females were used as the baseline dependent variables. Three other indicators of schistosomiasis were used for robustness purposes. The growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita (per capita income) was used as the main independent variable. The dynamic panel system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) regression was employed as the empirical estimation technique.
In the baseline, the study found a negative significant effect of per capita income on the prevalence of schistosomiasis (overall prevalence of schistosomiasis (β = -0.021, p < 0.05), prevalence of schistosomiasis among males (β = -0.04, p < 0.01) and prevalence of schistosomiasis among females (β = -0.04, p < 0.01)). The findings were not qualitatively different when the three other indicators of schistosomiasis were used.
Enhancing per capita income on the African continent remains critical towards the fight against schistosomiasis. Therefore, measures such as educational and skills development, technological advancement, among others, that can enhance per capita income should be deepened by governments, firms (including financial institutions) and other stakeholders.
血吸虫病是由吸虫幼虫引起的贫困相关寄生虫病之一。个体通过皮肤接触受这些幼虫污染的水而感染。因此，无法获得基本水和卫生服务的贫困人口等更容易感染该疾病。该疾病负担最重的地区是非洲，超过2亿人需要接受预防性治疗。鉴于非洲近年来经历了经济增长，尽管有一些波动，本研究调查了人均收入对非洲大陆部分国家血吸虫病流行率的影响。
本研究使用了2002 - 2019年期间35个非洲国家的面板数据。数据来自《2021年全球疾病负担研究》（GBD）数据库和世界银行的《世界发展指标》（WB's WDI）数据库。血吸虫病的流行率：i）男性和女性总体流行率、ii）男性流行率、iii）女性流行率被用作基准因变量。为了进行稳健性检验，还使用了另外三个血吸虫病指标。人均国内生产总值（GDP）增长率（人均收入）被用作主要自变量。实证估计技术采用动态面板系统广义矩方法（GMM）回归。
在基准模型中，研究发现人均收入对血吸虫病流行率有显著的负向影响（血吸虫病总体流行率（β = -0.021，p < 0.05）、男性血吸虫病流行率（β = -0.04，p < 0.01）和女性血吸虫病流行率（β = -0.04，p < 0.01））。当使用另外三个血吸虫病指标时，研究结果在定性上没有差异。
提高非洲大陆的人均收入对于抗击血吸虫病仍然至关重要。因此，政府、企业（包括金融机构）和其他利益相关者应深化教育和技能发展、技术进步等能够提高人均收入的措施。
