New Pardee Center Issue Brief on The Future of Malaria in Africa

Learning From the Past: The Future of Malaria in Africa
By Melissa Graboyes

June 2009 (8 pages)
Download PDF version.

In April 2009, Boston University’s African Studies Center organized a two-day event titled “Africa 2060 A.D.: What We Don’t Know About Malaria, and When Didn’t We Know It,” with the Pardee Center as one of the co-sponsors. Based on the discussion that took place among the experts gathered over the two days, this paper explores the theme posited in the event’s title. In particular, the paper is framed by conversations that centered on the benefits of “failure analysis”— a rigorous study of the failures of past eradication attempts.

The logic was that figuring out what hasn’t worked in the past might help us determine what could work in the future. The paper concludes: “The challenge confronting malaria experts in the coming years is to find a way to offer a different response”.

This paper is part of the Africa 2060 Project, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and
symposia exploring African futures in various aspects related to development on continental and
regional scales. The views expressed in this paper are strictly those of the author and should not be
assumed to represent the views of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future
or of Boston University.

Melissa Graboyes is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at Boston University, currently writing her dissertation about the history of medical research in East Africa. She has master’s degrees in public health and history. Luckily, despite nearly three years working in Africa in five different countries, she is
yet to get malaria.