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Behavior in the Time of Cholera: Evidence from the 2008-2009 Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe

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Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction (SBP 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 8393))

Abstract

Despite the potential benefits of investments in water and sanitation, individual level water treatment remains low in many developing countries. This paper explores the dynamic relationship between water transmitted infectious disease and water treatment behavior. Using evolutionary game theory, I endogenize water treatment decisions in a mathematical model of cholera. I calibrate the model for the ’08-’09 cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. I show that prevalence dependent water treatment behavior is a factor contributing to endemic cholera. Additionally, I find that in absence of WHO interventions in Zimbabwe, the share of the population treating their water would have converged to a level that would have enabled cholera to persist in the population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of California Irvine, USA

    Anne Carpenter

Authors
  1. Anne Carpenter
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Social Complexity and Department of Computational Social Science, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MS 6B2, 22030-4400, Fairfax, VA, USA

    William G. Kennedy

  2. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 South University Avenue, EIT Building, Room 553, 72204, Little Rock, AR, USA

    Nitin Agarwal

  3. Department of Computer Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, 83 Lomb Memorial Drive, Bldg 09, 14623-5603, Rochester, NY, USA

    Shanchieh Jay Yang

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Carpenter, A. (2014). Behavior in the Time of Cholera: Evidence from the 2008-2009 Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe. In: Kennedy, W.G., Agarwal, N., Yang, S.J. (eds) Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction. SBP 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8393. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05579-4_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05579-4_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05578-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05579-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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