Information and stories on health topics.

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How to Bring Medicine to the Poor

How to Bring Medicine to the PoorThere are many diseases plaguing the developing nations of the world. There is also much that can be done to improve the state of health across the globe. This is especially true with regards to measles. Measles is a serious problem, particularly in African nations, including Nigeria. Nigeria desperately needs people to bring medicine to the poor.

The CDC reported 176,785 confirmed cases of measles in Africa between 2013 and 2016. While the frequency of measles cases has been on the decline since 2013, the disease is still too widespread to be considered a solved problem. This is especially true for children between nine and 59 months old; they are the most vulnerable to this disease.

Starting in 2013, Nigeria had 50,585 known cases of measles. By 2016, this number had dropped to 11,499 known measles cases, leaving it still the most highly infected African nation. This seems like an exceptionally great dilemma to members of the developed world who are accustomed to the high cost of vaccines. In the United States, the CDC’s five recommended childhood shots can cost an average of $937 per person. Considering how much these vaccines cost Americans, how could it be possible to combat an epidemic in a nation as poor as Nigeria?

According to the World Health Organization, it is actually quite cost-effective to immunize nations such as Nigeria from measles. While vaccines are quite expensive in nations such as the United States, they are relatively inexpensive to use when manufactured for mass immunization projects. The World Health Organization has estimated that mass immunizations could be performed in countries such as Nigeria for roughly $1 per child vaccine.

What can be done to bring medicine to Nigeria? A simple solution would be to write and call your Congress representatives to encourage them to support immunization projects. Donating to the Borgen Project is also a great way to put forth efforts to increase U.S. spending on global disease prevention. To make a direct impact, it is also possible to contact the World Health Organization to ask how you can contribute to the fight against measles. From these steps, there will be an improved capacity by many organizations to bring medicine to the poor.

– Tim Sherwood

Photo: Flickr

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How Medical Anthropology Improves Aid

Medical Anthropology Improves AidMedical anthropology, the study of health and healthcare in the context of specific cultures, exemplifies how the application of social sciences can improve policymaking. Medical anthropologists work within communities and observe health behaviors, which provides them with qualitative data that can inform healthcare-related aid. In this way, medical anthropology improves aid. Medical anthropologists have not only created aid organizations, such as Partners in Health, but also identified health issues in developing nations and discovered ways to make aid implementation more effective.

When Ebola began spreading rapidly throughout Liberia and Sierra Leone, knowing the cause of the disease was not enough to help aid organizations combat it. In 2014, the World Health Organization conducted medical anthropology-based research to pinpoint what was promoting the virulence of the disease. Among other data, the study found that the culture of burial in Liberia and Sierra Leone contributed significantly to the spread of Ebola.

WHO and other organizations’ attempts to quell Ebola include the cremation of the virus’ victims. However, the locals of Liberia and Sierra Leone view such a practice as an affront to their culture and traditions. In these regions, it is customary to have intimate contact with bodies during funeral ceremonies, including washing the corpse and even kissing it.

In order to eliminate the influence of regional funeral customs on Ebola transmission, WHO began promoting culturally compliant alternatives to burial rather than cremation. Funeral ceremonies performed for individuals who have died in war, which do not require a physical body, are now an encouraged alternative for the burial of Ebola victims. For the moment, Ebola outbreaks have been controlled. According to the CDC, over 25,000 cases of Ebola were recorded in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, while only 8 cases were reported from May 2017 to July 2017.

The Ebola crisis is not the only example of how medical anthropology improves aid and contributes to better global health. In 1997, researchers at the University of South Florida searched for cultural explanations for the shocking prevalence of dengue fever in the Dominican Republic. They discovered that, for a start, dengue education needed to be reformed.

In Dominican culture, women are in charge of collecting water for the household, so health organizations teach women how to clean water and prevent mosquitoes, the vectors of dengue fever, from breeding. However, men in Dominican communities control stored water, kept outside the home. The anthropologists discovered that men had not been taught how water sources and dengue were related, and thus left stored water sources uncovered, which allowed dengue-carrying mosquitoes to spawn.

The insight provided by medical anthropology allows aid organizations to implement healthcare reforms in culturally sensitive ways that are cohesive with local traditions, which in turn makes them more effective. Additionally, living within a culture, as many anthropologists do, helps them detect overlooked behaviors that may seriously impact health and healthcare initiatives.

– Mary Efird

Photo: Flickr

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Child Vision: Glasses for Children in Impoverished Countries

Child Vision: Glasses for Children in Impoverished CountriesThere are 100 million young people in the world that have poor vision, and about 60 percent of them lack access to corrective glasses. Glasses are considered a luxury in these parts of the world. This has a big impact on kids in school, as they cannot see the blackboard clearly and lose about half a year of schooling as a result. Child Vision glasses are a cheap alternative to normal prescription glasses for children in impoverished countries.

Child Vision glasses are different from conventional glasses because they are adjustable. Each lens is actually two lenses with space in the middle. After taking a simple eye chart test, kids put on the Child Vision glasses and they can adjust it themselves. They cover one eye and turn a knob that will adjust the glasses.

The knob adjusts the liquid that is inside the lenses. The liquid causes the lenses to expand or contract, thus adjusting the prescription of the glasses. Kids turn the knob until they can see clearly. Once they can see clearly, they take off the adjustors to seal the prescription. Unfortunately, that means that kids only have one opportunity to correct their vision, but it seems that the success rate is high.

Out of all the users of adjustable glasses, 92 percent of them were able to correct their vision. One of the main reasons why glasses are considered a luxury is because of their price. The average price for glasses is about $196. The creators of Child Vision recognized this problem and worked to make the adjustable glasses affordable for those in the developing world. The average cost for Child Vision glasses is €16, or about $19.

One of the best things about these glasses is that they do not need an optometrist to correct their vision. Anyone with basic training can administer an eye chart exam to help kids learn if they need glasses.

Thanks to Child Vision, glasses for children in impoverished countries are now available. These low-cost adjustable glasses are easy to adjust and give to kids. Child Vision is giving kids the glasses they need so they can better participate in school and make the most of their education.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Canada is a Role Model for the World

Education in Canada

Education in Canada ranks among the highest in the world according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This is despite the fact that performance in math, reading and science has gone down in recent years.

Although performance in these three subjects has gone down, the impact of socioeconomic status is lower than the OECD average and students from immigrant backgrounds score similarly to their peers. Every Canadian province and territory provides pre-primary education for children who are five years old. Education in Canada is mandatory until the age of 16 or 18, depending on the province or territory, and grade repetition is lower than the average among OECD nations.

Education in Canada is decentralized. There are one or two departments in each of Canada’s 13 districts that are charged with organization, delivery and evaluation of the education system. Education is primarily provided by institutions that are supported through public funds from each of the jurisdictions. Canada’s federal government provides a portion of the funding needed for post-secondary education. In addition to that, it also provides programs which support the development of skills.

Canada also ranks above the OECD average in high school graduation rate, and it ranks the highest among OECD nations in tertiary education. Despite this, the Huffington Post reported that there are still some problems when it comes to education in Canada. “Pumping out post-secondary students doesn’t say much about the health of a country’s education system,” Mehrnaz Bassiri wrote.

The good news it, post-secondary education in Canada is more widely available because the cost is not as high as it is in places like the United States and United Kingdom. However, Canada’s low population density accompanied by the sufficient presence of universities allows for a greater percentage of Canadians to obtain a degree from a university, which has thus brought down the value of a degree.

While the benefits of a highly educated workforce have had detrimental effects on the value of college degrees, education in Canada is ranked among the highest of OECD nations, and should be applauded for its continued efforts toward inclusion and accessibility.

– Fernando Vazquez

Photo: Flickr

Syrian Hospitals Go Underground

Syrian Hospitals Go UndergroundThe Syrian civil war has been and continues to be, devastating. Since its inception in 2011, bombings and raids have displaced thousands upon thousands from the country. However, not everyone has the choice to flee. In fact, some have been rendered unable to leave the country because of injuries caused by warfare. This has placed a new burden on doctors in the area. How are medical staff supposed to effectively treat patients when bombs frequently and intentionally strike the hospitals in Syria? Some doctors have a solution: having Syrian hospitals go underground.

Mahmoud Hariri is a surgeon, born and raised in Syria, who has faced the consequences of war on Syrian healthcare. He reports having once seen a patient pull a tube out of his own body in order to evacuate the hospital he was receiving care in because it was being bombed—again. Hariri spoke of the complications that these forced evacuations cause, particularly for the often unconscious patients in the intensive care units. As many of the hospitals are without elevators, doctors and support staff are left with no choice but to carry these critical patients down the stairs.

To save patients and allow medical workers to provide better care without the risk of bombings forcing evacuations, entire hospitals have been relocated into basements and caves. In essence, hospitals are using makeshift, military-style fortifications so operations can endure the bombs falling above. If a hospital chooses to stay in the buildings above the surface, they are building concrete walls and even creating “sacrificial” floors to take the brunt of the aerial attacks.

As Syrian hospitals go underground and construct protective structures, the question of financing the relocations and fortifications arises. The United States and U.N. grants are largely responsible for making these expensive projects possible. However, as the U.S. considers a drastic budget cut to the International Affairs Budget, worried aid groups are wondering how to fill the potential void caused by reduced funding.

Currently, around 25 underground facilities are in operation. However, each facility can cost $800,000 to $1.5 million depending on what the hospital needs. As a result, doctors have turned to crowdfunding in a desperate attempt to continue the construction of these makeshift facilities before any official aid is lost. Even if aid continues, the regulations on how foreign aid can be spent have caused a few problems. For example, the construction itself is deemed “development,” not a humanitarian expenditure.

The good news is in the last six years, over $1.7 million has been collected by pooling funds. While the U.N. remains the main source of financial support, the French government has provided nearly $500,000 and over $2.5 has been given by private donors and Syrian NGO grants.

Syria has a long way to go. As the civil war is ongoing with no definite end in sight, medical access remains a high priority to those still in Syria. The request for pooled aid in 2017 alone was over $500 million. In order to continue to provide this much-needed care in a war zone, the medical staff is relying on the U.S., the U.N. and all the other donors to continue supporting them. It is essential that Syrian hospitals go underground. Otherwise, proper medical care simply will not be able to keep up with the needs of war-torn cities like Aleppo.

– Taylor Elkins

Photo: Flickr

PEPFAR: New Approach for HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control

9. PEPFAR: New Approach for HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control

The creation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003 stimulated a significant increase in funding for and attention to the pandemic. When the program was originally implemented, its focus was to provide urgently needed treatment to individuals in countries that experienced the most deaths caused by HIV/AIDS.

New data shows that five African countries are close to reaching full control of their HIV/AIDS epidemic. This tremendous progress initiated a new vision and landmark strategy for achieving control of the epidemic in up to 13 high-burdened countries by the end of 2020.

The PEPFAR 2017-2020 Strategy for Accelerating HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control was released in September 2017. The Epidemic Control Strategy accelerates implementation and focuses efforts on 13 high-burdened countries: Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The report outlines particular steps that are vital to the new 2017-2020 strategy. Accelerating HIV testing and treatment to reach men under the age of 35 is at the top of the agenda for the new strategy. Currently, more than half of men 35 and younger in target countries do not know their status and are not being treated. This is part of a detrimental cycle, fueling the epidemic in young women 15-24 years old.

HIV prevention will be expanded, particularly focusing on young women under the age of 25 and young men under the age of 30. This includes intensifying the efforts of girls to become Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) and the expansion of voluntary medical male circumcision.

Other steps in the new HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control Strategy include continued use of granular epidemiologic and cost data in order to improve and increase the program’s impact and effectiveness, renewed engagement with faith-based and private sector organizations and strengthened policy and financial contributions by partner governments.

HIV/AIDS is both a cause and a result of poverty. The epidemic slows economic growth, reduces access to education and overall presents an obstacle to sustainable development. Healthy populations are a prerequisite for prosperous and stable societies. PEPFAR’s unwavering commitment to control and ultimately end the pandemic not only saves millions of lives but also enhances global public health and security.

PEPFAR’s new HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control Strategy has the potential to set the course for epidemic control in all PEPFAR-supported countries. For the first time, the end of the epidemic as a public health threat is in sight.

– Jamie Enright

Photo: Flickr

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Preventing Tobacco Use in Impoverished Countries

Tobacco Use in Impoverished Countries

Tobacco is one of the world’s most preventable causes of disease. Preventing tobacco use in impoverished countries is important because tobacco use causes many diseases and about half of tobacco users end up dying from it. In recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) discovered that about 80% of tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries.

Before, the citizens in those countries would and could not spend their money on tobacco because it was not necessary. Tobacco is considered a luxury. But as they earn more money and incomes increase in their countries, they can afford to spend their money on tobacco.

As impoverished countries begin to get out of the lower classes of income, tobacco companies begin to target these countries. They sell and advertise tobacco without many restrictions, as the countries have often not yet put regulations in place. Because of that, the citizens of these countries end up buying tobacco and facing the consequences of its use. However, preventing tobacco use in impoverished countries through restrictions can have dramatic effects.

One of the best examples of this is Honduras. Between the years 2000 and 2015. The World Bank reported that smoking prevalence in adult males decreased by 30%. The World Bank also noted that Honduras is a low-middle income country, the target area for tobacco companies. So why has tobacco usage decreased in Honduras?

To put it simply, they have begun to put restrictions on tobacco. According to The Tobacco Atlas, Honduras has many rigorous regulations regarding tobacco. For example, many of Honduras’s public areas do not allow smoking. Universities, restaurants and all other indoor public spaces are smoke-free. They have also limited the number of television channels on which tobacco can be advertised. Additionally, Honduras has a 21% excise tax on cigarette prices. Because Honduras has these restrictions, their smoking rate has decreased by 30%.

The positive impacts of these restrictions on tobacco advertisement and use in Honduras are that fewer people are buying tobacco because of the added expense of taxes and fewer people are being exposed to tobacco in the first place. The laws that limit where people can smoke help to prevent people from smoking in indoor public spaces and prevent nonsmokers from being exposed to cigarette smoke.

Preventing tobacco use in impoverished countries requires many different strategies. Taxes, advertisement restrictions and other policies work together to lower tobacco usage. Low-middle income countries need to implement these policies to help protect their citizens. Implementing proper restrictions on tobacco is important to the health of these countries.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Flickr

Combating Malnutrition in Ethiopia With Chicken Farms

Malnutrition in Ethiopia

As a result of systemic exploitation from past and present world systems, most East African nations are entrenched in a cycle of poverty. This cycle often forces such nations to struggle mightily with child malnourishment and Ethiopia is no exception. Although the rate of malnutrition in Ethiopia has dropped seven percent between 2005 and 2011, malnutrition, on the whole, is still so widespread that an estimated 44% of children under the age of five still suffer from growth stunting alone. This harsh reality has prompted USAID to enter the scene in 2011 and 2012, with several programs meant to address various factors such as nutritional (mis)education and storage practices, which contribute to such high rates of child malnutrition.

Further, it is especially significant to note that Ethiopia is the second-most populous nation in Africa, making the weight of this fight with malnutrition even heavier on multiple levels. From an economic standpoint, the effects of such a high prevalence of malnutrition are catastrophic. In fact, the Ethiopian workforce has declined by eight percent due to child mortality related to malnourishment.

Such is an astounding figure; its impact is incredibly significant for the nation’s economy, as losing such a substantial amount of its potential workforce ultimately inhibits the extent to which the nation can grow within the current capitalist world system. Not only that, but a hefty 16.5% of Ethiopia’s annual GDP goes towards various costs related to child malnutrition. Thus, not only is malnutrition limiting the successes of the future workforce, it is actively mitigating the successes of the present one.

One of the major challenges the nation faces in addressing the issue of malnutrition in Ethiopia is the overall lack of protein in typical diets. This is largely due to a scarcity of meat and a high death rate among chickens in particular — indigenous chicken breeds have a survival rate of just 50%. Consequently, chicken supplies — and the protein chickens provide — are minimal at best.

Yet, an incredible company, Mekelle Farms, has arisen as a result of this challenge. Mekelle Farms produces chickens that are both more fertile and more disease-resistant than local chicken breeds. After raising the chickens for 40 days, Mekelle partners with local governments to sell the chickens to smallholder farmers and rural families. These chickens not only produce up to five times more eggs than their traditional counterparts, they also double the income of those who possess them.

Through their production of more sustainable and successful chickens, Mekelle is actively fighting malnutrition by both increasing the chicken supply (and thus increasing the protein supply) within struggling communities and also improving the economic status of those who own said chickens. This is undeniably a catalyst for change and growth within these communities that are most heavily affected by malnutrition in Ethiopia.

There is still an immense amount of work to be done, as the reality still stands that 3.1 million Ethiopian children under the age of five will be killed by malnutrition every year. But there is much hope going forward, as companies like Mekelle Farms enter the market and engage in the fight against hunger and malnutrition.

– Kailee Nardi

Photo: Flickr

Defecting and Disease: The Health of North Korean Refugees

Health of North Korean Refugees

When defectors from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea risk their lives to leave the country, they are running not only from a dictatorial regime, but also from famine and sickness. The physical and mental health of North Korean refugees is much worse than that of their South Korean counterparts. But, upon reaching South Korea, North Korean defectors discover healthcare and resources that transform their well-being.

Nearly 30,000 North Korean refugees have managed to enter South Korea. These individuals suffer from both physical and mental illness. Depression and PTSD are prevalent issues experienced by North Korean refugees, who have spent their lives in a stressful environment of oppression.

Despite the fact that North Korea offers a universal socialist healthcare system, economic strife renders that system ineffective. Much of North Korea’s medical equipment is outdated, and many doctors sell medicine on the black market in order to pay for food. A recent study showed that approximately 40% of North Korean refugees who needed care while in North Korea were unable to receive it.

In South Korea, with access to reliable healthcare, the health of North Korean refugees is finally managed properly. On average, North Korean defectors visit the doctor twice a month.

The most common disorder suffered by North Korean refugees is malnutrition and stunted growth. Unlike the rest of the world, including South Korea, North Korea’s malnourished citizens have not experienced an increase in height over the past few decades. Even when exposed to the boundless diet available in South Korea, North Korean refugees continue to exhibit smaller statures than South Koreans, due to long-term damage caused by malnutrition.

Malnutrition has the most severe consequences for children. North Korean children exhibit stunted growth and anemia resulting from malnutrition. According to the World Health Organization, 25 out of 1,000 children in North Korea die before the age of five, as opposed to only three out of 1,000 in South Korea.

Concerned for North Korea’s suffering children, South Korea recently approved $8 million of aid, which will be divided between the U.N. World Food Programme and UNICEF to target illnesses in North Korean infants and mothers. Despite the benefits South Korea’s aid is expected to provide, any form of aid to North Korea is veiled in controversy because of its recent nuclear tests.

In 1952, South Korea became a recipient of U.S. aid. Following the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. U.S. aid provided food and consumer goods, and within decades, South Korea became an aid donor. Today, such aid is desperately needed to supplement the lives of individuals living in North Korea.

Aid allowed South Korea to make an outstanding economic recovery and avoid the destitute fate of North Korea. South Korea has even become one of the foremost leaders in global health, which allows them to effectively improve the health of North Korean refugees who have relocated to the south.

– Mary Efird

Photo: Flickr

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Causes of Poverty in Monaco Successfully Minimized

Causes of Poverty in Monaco

What are the causes of poverty in Monaco? This is a difficult question to answer. As of 2009, according to the World Health Organization, Monaco does not have any percentage of its population living below the national or international poverty line. So, there are essentially no causes of poverty in Monaco.

Monaco, a microstate located on France‘s southern coast, has a small population of 38,000 people. In 2015, Monaco had the highest per capita GDP in the world. Thus, it is not surprising that Monaco is home to some of the world’s wealthiest people and many popular, expensive tourist attractions such as Monte Carlo.

Furthermore, the cost of living is extremely high in Monaco; property costs $9,000 per square inch, which is approximately 50% more expensive than the average apartment in New York City. Monaco is roughly the size of Central Park, and so it is fairly difficult for a large number of people of low socioeconomic status to find a place to live.

In addition, the working class of Monaco is hardly even comparable to the working class of many developed countries like the United States. Workers are granted competitive, tax-free salaries and they do not suffer the same hardships and difficulties that part-time, minimum wage workers in the United States face.

Health outcomes are oftentimes linked to poverty rates and may provide meaningful insight into a country’s poverty rate. Underdeveloped countries, which experience higher incidence rates of communicable diseases, have higher poverty rates than developed countries like Monaco, which experience high incidence rates of non-communicable diseases. Infectious, communicable diseases that are oftentimes rampant among groups of low socioeconomic status do not have high incidence rates in Monaco.

For instance, diarrhea, which is a common indicator of infectious disease rates, was reported to have an incidence rate of 0.3 in 2009, which is comparable to the world’s lowest incidence rate of diarrhea of 0.2 at that time. Cardiovascular disease is an example of a non-communicable disease that has a fairly high incidence rate in developed countries. In Monaco, cardiovascular disease had an incidence rate of 2.1 in 2009, compared to the world’s lowest incidence rate of cardiovascular disease, 1.4, at that time.

Monaco’s health outcomes are comparable to those of developed countries rather than underdeveloped countries. These facts, combined with the protections for worker salaries and the many wealthy people that live there, mean that poverty is fortunately not an issue for the people of Monaco.

– Emily Santora

Photo: Flickr