Vector-borne disease control in sub-Saharan Africa: a necessary but partial vision of development

A comparative analysis of efforts to control four major vector-borne diseases that plague agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa - onchocerciasis (river blindness), bovine trypanosomiasis, malaria, and East Coast Fever - reveals numerous similarities in the technical reasons why control programs break down. The authors conclude that there is an urgent need to develop simpler control technologies and to pay more attention to the types of socioeconomic planning (including land-use planning) that must accompany or predate disease control efforts if they are to fulfill their full economic and social potential over time. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.