Development, malaria and public health policy: A case study in Goa

Abstract

In Goa, a small state in India, construction activity has been a major factor in the spread of malaria. While private builders, primarily to catering to tourist demand and speculative real estate transactions, the costs of the incidence are being borne by migrant labour, and the local population. The focus of intervention, it is argued here, is incorrectly placed on the migrant worker. Instead, the increased slate expenditure on health, should be financed by taxing the builders who are responsible for creating breeding grounds at construction sites, which make vector control methods dysfunctional.