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Structural adjustment programmes and infectious disease mortality

Author

Listed:
  • Elias Nosrati
  • Jennifer B Dowd
  • Michael Marmot
  • Lawrence P King

Abstract

International financial organisations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) play a central role in shaping the developmental trajectories of fiscally distressed countries through their conditional lending schemes, known as ‘structural adjustment programmes’. These programmes entail wide-ranging domestic policy reforms that influence local health and welfare systems. Using novel panel data from 187 countries between 1990 and 2017 and an instrumental variable technique, we find that IMF programmes lead to over 70 excess deaths from respiratory diseases and tuberculosis per 100,000 population and that IMF-mandated privatisation reforms lead to over 90 excess deaths per 100,000 population. Thus structural adjustment programmes, as currently designed and implemented, are harmful to population health and increase global infectious disease burdens.

Suggested Citation

  • Elias Nosrati & Jennifer B Dowd & Michael Marmot & Lawrence P King, 2022. "Structural adjustment programmes and infectious disease mortality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(7), pages 1-12, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0270344
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270344
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Luc Laeven & Fabian Valencia, 2020. "Systemic Banking Crises Database II," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 68(2), pages 307-361, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ricardo Alonzo Fern'andez Salguero, 2025. "The Crisis Simulator for Bolivia (KISr-p): An Empirically Grounded Modeling Framework," Papers 2510.16537, arXiv.org.
    2. Sherin Susan Paul & Satya Sivaraman & Tracie Muraya & Kerstin Åkerfeldt & Anna Karin Sjöblom & Mirfin Mpundu, 2026. "The Silent Evolution in Global Healthcare Crisis: Transcending the Clinical Realm to Address Antimicrobial Resistance," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 69(1), pages 85-93, March.

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