Border demography and border malaria among Karen populations along the Thailand-Myanmar border
Open Access
- Author:
- Parker, Daniel M
- Graduate Program:
- Anthropology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 03, 2014
- Committee Members:
- James William Wood, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Kenneth Monrad Weiss, Committee Member
Liwang Cui, Committee Member
Stephen Matthews, Committee Member
Ottar N Bjornstad, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Thailand
Myanmar
demography
epidemiology
spatio-temporal
malaria
migration - Abstract:
- International borders and the regions that encompass them sometimes have demographic and epidemiological characteristics that differ from non-border regions. The reasons for these differences are quite complex. International borders are sometimes the meeting point of different cultural and linguistic groups. They are the gates through which the “have-nots” pass as they attempt to achieve economic stability or increase their economic standing. Frequently, international borders are regions with special economic zones or with businesses that cater specifically to people on the other side of the border. Finally, these regions are also a bottleneck through which many human migrants pass. These and many other factors influence the age and sex structures of border populations; the movement patterns and spatio-temporal distributions of those populations; and furthermore, influence the disease burdens of these populations. The international border between Thailand and Myanmar (formerly Burma) is an excellent case in point. In this dissertation I examine ethnic Karen border populations and their malaria burdens from a demographic, anthropological, ecological, and epidemiological perspective. The dissertation uses data collected through a U.S. National Institutes of Health grant (grant number: NIH U19AI089672) and the Southeast Asian International Center for Excellence in Malaria Research and is divided into two major themes: human demography and disease ecology. The first section concerns the demography of ethnic Karen populations along the Thai-Myanmar border. The second major theme concerns the ecology and epidemiology of border malaria in a Karen village along the Thai-Myanmar border. My major findings are that household demography is a strong predictor of migration and that seasonal migration in Karen villages exhibits some degree of spatial synchrony. Furthermore, I find that border malaria is at least partially related to problems associated with asymptomatic carriers, misdiagnoses, and the socio-political context that exists along this border.