One of the major diseases affecting human beings and livestock in Africa, trypanosomiasis--known in its common human form as sleeping sickness--remains resistant to general eradication, a wide belt across the middle of the continent. This is true even though the disease's carriers--several varieties of tsetse flies--and its need for an animal host is well understood. This paper sketches the history of medical, public health, and development concepts that have attempted and achieved short-term and local eradication with a variety of methods, as well as the ecological consequences of these eradication measures, some quite devastating. More ecologically-attuned approaches to development than the simple removal of the tsetse are required in the trypanosomiasis belt if resource degradation and famine are to be avoided.
Journal articles from the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) African Journal of Range and Forage Science as well as related articles and reports from throughout the southern African region.