Role of malaria control in improving child health in mainland Tanzania: Evidence from a rapid policy scale-up

Malaria control is a major policy concern in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease imposes a high burden on child health. Between 2004 and 2010, in mainland Tanzania, malaria control interventions have experienced a rapid scale-up evidenced by a sharp increase of the budget devoted to malaria control, rising from less than $10 million to nearly $140 million. However, the extent to which these interventions have improved child health remains an open policy question. I exploit the timing of the fast scale-up of the malaria control program, along with the variation in malaria endemicity across the country due to climate, to evaluate the impact of malaria control interventions on child health with a difference-in-difference approach. My estimates suggest that, on average, malaria control interventions have helped avert approximately 17.9 deaths for every 1000 live births. In relative terms, they have contributed to 57.7 percent of the reduction in under-five mortality between 2004 and 2010. These interventions have also improved other measures of child health, such as anemia and stunting, reducing the odds of these conditions by 52 and 35 percent, respectively. Calculations suggest that it costs at most 4100 US dollars to save a child through the program. Finally, the malaria control program passes the test of a positive net present value with a value of a statistical life as low as 4600 US dollars for discount rates ranging from 10 to 20 percent.