Alexis Rulisa
Email: alexis.rulisa@gmail.com
Project: Re-aligning Private Economic Interests and Public Health Concerns in Resource-poor Communities: The Case of Rice Farming and Malaria Risk in Ruhuha, Rwanda
Abstract: Economic activities may entail negative externalities for public health, which is particularly problematic in localities characterised by widespread poverty. Standard textbook solutions for redressing this market failure (e.g. Pigouvian taxes) are often politically infeasible and ethically inappropriate in resource-poor settings. Hence, alternative solutions need to be designed that are able to unlock the necessary resources to mitigate the negative impact of income-generating activities on public health and which can be sustained over time. The proposed research thus aims to identify local financing modalities and incentive schemes that meet these criteria, applied to the particular case of rice farming in south-eastern Rwanda, which creates a breeding environment for mosquitoes and thereby increases malaria risk. Such community-based financing schemes are urgently needed to sustain recent gains in malaria reduction in countries like Rwanda, which so far have heavily depended on external donors in their fight against malaria.
Funding: NWO/WOTRO, AMC/RU
Starting date: September 2013
Supervision: Paul Hoebink and Luuk van Kempen