This archive report was first published on 16 October 2019.
Nobel Prize Winner's Research in Kenya Highlights Poverty's Devastating Impact ¶
On October 16, 2019, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Michael Kremer, along with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), infectious and parasitic diseases account for one-third of the disease burden in low-income countries, with Africa bearing the brunt of this challenge.
Kremer's research in western Kenya focused on teacher incentives, primary school deworming, and preventive health subsidy programmes, which he conducted in collaboration with Rachel Glennerster.
"Poverty leads to inadequate nutrition, sanitation, and education, all of which contribute to the spread of infectious diseases," Kremer and Glennerster argue in their book, Strong Medicine.
Their findings highlight the need for targeted policy approaches to address poverty and its associated problems, which can perpetuate a virtuous cycle of economic empowerment and improved health outcomes.
As Hafez Ghanem, the World Bank's vice-president for Africa, noted, children whose parents drop out of school early are more likely to be malnourished, underfed, and stunted, and are also more likely to drop out of school themselves.
