The Legacy of Colonial Medicine in Central Africa
American Economic Review
vol. 111,
no. 4, April 2021
(pp. 1284-1314)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Between 1921 and 1956, French colonial governments organized medical campaigns to treat and prevent sleeping sickness. Villagers were forcibly examined and injected with medications with severe, sometimes fatal, side effects. We digitized 30 years of archival records to document the locations of campaign visits at a granular geographic level for five central African countries. We find that greater campaign exposure reduces vaccination rates and trust in medicine, as measured by willingness to consent to a blood test. We examine relevance for present-day health initiatives; World Bank projects in the health sector are less successful in areas with greater exposure.Citation
Lowes, Sara, and Eduardo Montero. 2021. "The Legacy of Colonial Medicine in Central Africa." American Economic Review, 111 (4): 1284-1314. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180284Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- F54 Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
- I12 Health Behavior
- I15 Health and Economic Development
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- N37 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Africa; Oceania
- N47 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Africa; Oceania
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification