The Link Between Tax Reform and Malaria

When it comes to the fight against malaria, don't just think about white-robed scientists or larger-than-life figures like Bill Gates, the presidents of Tanzania and Uganda argue in a new Wall Street Journal op-ed. Consider, instead, the role of the humble tax collector.

Every year, the mosquito-borne disease takes the lives of some 800,000 Africans a year. And while bed nets and bilateral agreements are important, tax and tariff reform is likewise key to combating the disease.

What do taxes and tariffs have to do with malaria? Most anti-malarial products — from bed nets to medicines — are produced outside Africa. To reach the 200 million people in Africa affected by the disease each year, they have to be shipped great distances and distributed from African ports.

In the process, that cargo is usually subject to motley taxes and tariffs — which, as presidents Jakaya Kikwete and Yoweri Museveni explain, not only reduce the overall amount of goods that can be purchased, but also create frustrating delays in their circulation.

As evidence of how eliminating such tariffs and taxes can work, the duo cite the example of their respective home countries of Tanzania and Uganda, each which recently did away with such fees on anti-malarial products. After these taxes were struck, they write, the price of mosquito nets in local markets dropped, demand accelerated and more small businesses were able to enter the market, as well. What's more, they note, some local manufacturers have since become significant producers of insecticide-treated nets in their own right, which they in turn export to other African nations.

Scrapping taxes and tariffs, they say, can "be good for Africa's people and good for African entrepreneurs." Malaria may be a global health issue, but as they write, it's an issue deeply tied up in tax reform, too.

Photo Credit: usarmyafrica