Greece faces return of malaria, other public health issues since 2009 economic crash

Nov 15 2012

The Wall Street Journal examines how "Greece has seen decades of advances in public health rolled back, as a flood of illegal immigrants, a dysfunctional government and budget cuts ravage a once proud health-care system." Noting "[o]ver the past two years, more than 50 endemic cases of [malaria] and more than 100 imported cases have been identified in Greece," the newspaper writes, "The return of malaria, a scourge in developing countries, to Greece is a disturbing indicator of the nation's decline since it crashed in 2009 under the weight of a debt binge." The Wall Street Journal examines the history of malaria's return to the country and how the government is responding. "In addition to malaria, public health officials say they are worried about rises in everything from infectious respiratory-tract diseases and skin conditions to tuberculosis and HIV," the newspaper notes (Granitsas, 11/14).