"The long-term health effects of early-life malaria exposure: Evidence from Taiwan's malaria eradication in the 1950s,"
Cheng Chen , Shin-Yi Chou, Hsien-Ming Lien, and Jin-Tan Liu,
American Journal of Health Economics, 10:1, 30-67, Apr 2024.
This paper attempts to examine how malaria eradication in Taiwan during the 1950s, which successfully wiped out malaria within a short period, affected long-term health. Relying on three data sets covering the entire population of Taiwan, we construct diverse measures of health, including health-care utilization, functional abilities, chronic diseases, and catastrophic illnesses. Our results indicate that people who experienced larger reductions in early-life malaria exposure tend to have better health status as adults, especially women. Our results suggest a sizable cost saving from the eradication program that improves early-life environment and helps to avoid costly diseases at a later point.