Josef Orner
Ms. Tompkins
World Lit. H
11 March 2015
The Few, The Dead
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| Graph of average life per disease (Hotez) |
Neglected tropical diseases are a category of diseases that are only found in tropical climates and due to their geography, they are only found in isolated areas. The World Health Organization or WHO has stated that they are currently focussing on 14 neglected tropical diseases: Buruli ulcer, Leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, Leprosy,Epidemic diarrhoeal diseases, Lymphatic filariasis, Dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever, Onchocerciasis, Dracunculiasis (Guinea-worm disease), Schistosomiasis, Endemic Treponematoses (yaws, pinta, endemic syphilis…), Soli-transmitted helminthiasis, Trachoma, Human African trypanosomiasis (WHO). The list of disease may seem daunting, so is there anything being done to fight them?
Currently, very little is being done in fighting these diseases. For all of the new drugs created every day, less than 1% of the over one thousand new drugs registered during 1975-1999 have been to treat these diseases when over 100 million people over the world suffer from them (Kolodziejski). Over 70% of the countries that report citizens contracting a NTD are low income or low middle class countries. So if these diseases are found in low income countries, there must be external help from other countries?
While these disease are problem to the lower class, they aren’t seen as a problem for upper class countries. While the US and Europe have put millions of dollars into fighting these diseases, less than 0.001 percent of the US 60-70 billion dollars went towards developing new and urgently needed treatments for tropical diseases (Hotez). At the same time Europe has been working towards to developing vaccines for these diseases that will be inexpensive, but with the intention of also working towards profits.
Although efforts have been taken to fight these disease, the progress has not been enough to create significant change. As mankind progresses on, whether we support each other during this progress or leave each other behind will become very clear.
Works Cited
Hotez, Peter Jacob Kumaresan, M.B., B.S., Dr.P.H., Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, M.D., Jeffrey D. Sachs, Ph.D., and Lorenzo Savioli, M.D. J., MD, David H. Molyneux, Ph D, and Alan Fenwick, Ph D. "Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases — NEJM." New England Journal of Medicine. The New England Journal of Medecine, 6 Sept. 2007. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
Hotez, Peter, Sofia Raff, Alan Fenwick, Frank Richards, Jr., and David H. Molyneux. "Recent Progress in Integrated Neglected Tropical Disease Control." Trends in Parasitology. Trends in Parasitology, n.d. Web.
J, Hotez T. "Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and Their Impact on Global Health and Development. - CAB Direct." Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and Their Impact on Global Health and Development. - CAB Direct. CabDirect, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Kolodziejski, Christoph, Dr., and Silvia Birck VolkswagenStiftung. "Background." Neglected Tropical Diseases:. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Simarro, Pere P., Giuliano Cecchi, Massimo Paone, José R. Franco, Abdoulaye Diarra, José A. Ruiz, Eric M. Fèvre, Fabrice Courtin, Raffaele C. Mattioli, and Jean G. Jannin. "The Atlas of Human African Trypanosomiasis: A Contribution to Global Mapping of Neglected Tropical Diseases." International Journal of Health Geographics 9.1 (2010): 57. BiomedCentral. Web.
"Trypanosomiasis, Human African (sleeping Sickness)." WHO. WHO Media Publisher, Mar. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.
I enjoyed learning about the issue since I hadn't heard about Neglected Tropical Diseases before. Going down the list of fourteen different diseases, the fact that I had only heard about two or three of them highlighted how the these diseases don't get enough attention from first-world countries. In the United States, these diseases are rarely if ever seen because of medicine. The scope of these diseases reminds me of the polio epidemic, which was stopped using new drugs.
ReplyDeleteCan NTDs be cured by drugs or vaccines that have already been created? If yes, why don't third-world countries have access to them?
I have heard of some of these diseases but never really knew the extent of them. Your article really informed me about the issue and now I am aware of its existence as many others should be. I really liked how you asked questions at the end of your paragraphs and then answered the question in the next part. I found myself wondering those same questions while reading and most of them were answered by reading through your article. I have a question still, are other countries such as the US helping the people suffering of NTD's in Africa or are they mainly trying to cure those in their countries? Because we don't live in a very tropical climate I suspect I haven't been aware of this disease because we have no exposure to it. How long does it take to get this disease and how does one get it? Overall I feel more knowledgable having read your article about an issue I was unaware of. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the way you began your article. The wording seemed so perfect and intriguing. You put many details about how much money is used that actually goes into treating and helping these diseases. I never knew about most of the diseases that you had listed. Also your conclusion was amazing. I think you really did tie everything back together, making your point very clear. You did an amazing job showing us how important this issue. Nice job.
ReplyDelete