Archive for category: Health

Information and stories on health topics.

, , , ,

‘Neverthirst’ Projects: Enhancing Water Quality in Cambodia

Numerous 'Neverthirst' Projects Enhancing Water Quality in Cambodia
In many regions around the world, millions of people lack access to improved water sources and billions are without proper sanitation materials. In order to combat these harsh realities and situations, many organizations are focused on bringing clean water to those who need it. One of these groups is Neverthirst, an international nonprofit dedicated to providing clean and living water solutions throughout North Africa and Southern Asia. To accomplish this, the organization creates numerous projects, and currently, its focus is on the improvement of water quality in Cambodia.

Located in Southeast Asia, the country and its inhabitants are faced with a distressing problem. The issue of water quality in Cambodia is truly a serious one, but with the assistance of Neverthirst, water quality for all Cambodians can be enhanced. But what projects are being implemented, and how do they improve water quality in Cambodia?

Cambodia Biosand Filter and Latrine Project

The Cambodia Biosand Filter and Latrine Project addresses the issue that although many people have access to water, the quality of the water makes it unsafe and often unsuitable for necessary actions such as consumption.

Drinking unsafe and dirty water can potentially lead to devastating health problems, including diarrheal diseases. Diarrhea alone kills more than 800,000 children under five annually, or about 2,200 children every day. This initiative strives to slow the transmission and development of further diarrheal diseases, thus reducing the number of deaths in children under five in Cambodia.

Cambodia Well Project

Some Cambodians have access to clean water, however, transporting water can be extremely difficult. Usable water is usually located a great distance from the community, making it nearly impossible to carry a significant amount of water per trip.

Through the Cambodia Well Project, Neverthirst hopes to improve accessibility and availability of clean water substantially by installing high-quality hand pumps that can last up to 10 years. In addition to the installation of hand pumps, the organization also gives the communities and villages further funds for any required repairing of the hand pump in the future and instructs users on how to maintain it over time.

The creation and use of these pumps will greatly increase the water quality in Cambodia that is received and utilized by the various communities.

Cambodia School Project

In the immense province of Mondulkiri, many schools and children don’t have access to safe drinking sources. For a portion of schools in the region, schools’ only source of water is a shallow well. Neverthirst, through both the Cambodia School Project and the School Rain Tank Project, is attempting to instill a two-step process that will greatly improve schools’ access to clean water.

First, the construction of a concrete rain tank will collect and provide water for an average of 250 students per school. After the completion of the rain tank, education on safe drinking water is next. Teaching children the importance of clean drinkable water is important to the prevention of future disease outbreaks.

Conclusion

Overall, Neverthirst has created a massive 5,537 projects, serving more than 390,000 people in a total of five countries. Currently, the organization has projects established in Sudan, South Sudan and India.

Each year, more than three million people die from water-related causes, including inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. With the assistance of Neverthirst, countries, communities and villages like those in Colombia can be aided in its rebuilding efforts and enhance its water quality and safety.

Water quality in Cambodia is just one issue, and Neverthirst is dedicated to helping in all corners of the world.

– Jordan J. Phelan

Photo: Flickr

,

The Appeal and Usefulness of Web-Based Health Programs

Web-Based Health Programs
Recent advancements in technology have transformed and improved countless aspects of peoples’ lives. Some of the word’s greatest health concerns are obesity and the abuse of alcohol and tobacco. Can web-based health programs make a dent in these problems?

Web-based health programs encourage setting concrete goals and can interact with users throughout the day. They have the added benefit of 24/7 accessibility.

One example is an online tool designed for the Obesity Prevention Tailored for Health II project. The tool locates and displays health food stores, parks and recreational programs near users. It also suggests health-and-eco-friendly transportation options such as biking, walking and using public transit.

Discussed below are two examples of studies examining the usefulness of web-based health programs.

University of Washington

At the University of Washington in Seattle, researchers have been reviewing studies about the effectiveness of mobile and web-based health programs in helping users curb unhealthy behaviors such as overeating and smoking.

The team of researchers found that web-based programs helped users increase their physical activity and lose weight. Eighty-eight percent of the tested programs helped people exercise more. In addition to this, 77% of tested programs designed to help users quit smoking proved effective.

Health Affairs Journal

Health Affairs published a study examining nearly 2,000 overweight adult participants whom researchers divided into groups. In some groups, participants were given access to a social-networking intervention program, and in other groups, they were not. The program featured motivational emails and phone calls, an online discussion forum and a tool for recording food intake. Participants who used the web-based health program experienced slightly greater body mass index (BMI) reduction on average than did participants who didn’t use the program.

Overall, web-based health programs offer a promising alternative to traditional health interventions. They are generally low in cost and widely accessible. Web-based health programs have the potential both to change the way we look at health and improve countless peoples’ quality of life.

– Nathaniel Siegel

Photo: Flickr

,

Top 10 Facts about Prevention of the Zika Virus

Zika Virus
The Zika virus has become one of the most discussed global health issue since outbreaks resurfaced on the island of Yap in 2007.

The virus has caused many health problems and prenatal risks. It’s important to be educated on its transmission and origin in order to reduce the probability of outbreaks within households and communities. Here are the 10 most interesting facts about the virus.

  1. In Uganda 1947, scientists were testing animals and insects for evidence of yellow fever. They accidentally came across a virus being transmitted from mosquitoes to monkeys and named it Zika, after the forest it was discovered in.
  2. Zika virus is mainly transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. These mosquitoes are notorious for being daytime biters, however, they also bite during the night. These mosquitos are primarily found in tropical regions and are the same mosquito responsible for yellow fever, dengue and chikungunya transmission.
  3. The Zika virus can also be spread by sexual intercourse (anal oral or vaginal). Pregnant women and individuals infected with the virus are advised to practice safe sex or abstinence to prevent the spread of the virus to their partners or possible contraction.
  4. The incubation period for the virus is three to 12 days. The symptoms are similar to other arbovirus infections such as fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise and headache. These symptoms last for three to seven days. The Zika virus symptoms are usually mild and require no specific treatment.
  5. Protection against mosquito bites is essential for prevention of the Zika virus infection. One preventative measure is to wear lightly coloured clothes that cover the body and reduces attraction.
  6. The Zika virus could cause birth defects such as microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Several case reports and studies based on laboratory confirmation have linked infants and fetuses with congenital brain abnormality to their mothers who have been infected with the virus during her first or second trimester of pregnancy. Zika virus infections that occur during the third trimester are affiliated with poor intrauterine growth and fetal death.
  7. A diagnosis of the Zika virus infection can only be confirmed through laboratory tests on blood and other body fluids, such as semen, urine and saliva.
  8. There is no vaccine for the virus, however, data reveals that protection against Zika virus challenge can be achieved by single shot plasmid DNA vaccines with a full-length Zika virus pre-membrane and antibody neutralizing property or inactivated virus vaccines in susceptible mouse models.
  9. Researchers backed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases developed three vaccine approaches to protect monkeys from the Zika virus. The first experiment involved a comparison between an inactivated Zika virus vaccine and a placebo injection. After a boosted dose of both vaccines, the monkeys that received the inactivated Zika vaccine showed an increase in antibodies while those who received the placebo had high levels of virus replication. Another trial using experimental DNA vaccine shots, the monkeys were exposed to the Virus.
  10. The World Health Organization and partners have made efforts to manage and prevent medical complications caused by the Zika virus infection. The organization plans to implement the Zika Strategic Response Plan between July 2016 to December 2017.

– Shanique Wright

Photo: Flickr

, ,

10 Facts You Need to Know About Malaria

10 Facts about Malaria
Malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted through the Anopheles mosquito, a genus found on every continent except Antarctica. Humans have known about malaria for thousands of years, but it remains one of the most threatening diseases in the world. Here are 10 facts about malaria and its epidemiology.

1. Malaria threatens almost half of the world’s population.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 3.2 billion people in at least 95 countries are at risk for malaria today.

2. Malaria killed nearly half a million people last year.
WHO estimates that malaria killed 438,000 people in 2015 and infected more than 200 million. Children under the age of five account for two-thirds of malaria deaths.

3. Pregnant women are at especially high risk.
Women who contract malaria while pregnant are more likely to die from the illness. The disease also threatens fetal health and can cause a variety of birth-related problems. Babies born to mothers who have malaria are likely to have health problems. According to WHO, malaria is responsible for one-third of all preventable low birth weight cases.

4. Africa suffers the most from the disease.
While malaria is endemic on four continents, Africa bears the brunt of the burden. Last year, Africa accounted for 89 percent of all cases and 91 percent of all deaths from malaria, the vast majority of which occurred in just 15 countries.

5. Drug resistance is an increasing problem.
When malaria patients don’t finish their full courses of treatment, the parasites can develop resistance to the drugs used to treat them. The development of drug resistance has always been an aspect of dealing with malaria, but scientists are reporting alarming multi-drug resistance in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia. The spread of a strain that doesn’t respond to the strongest drugs could undo years of work fighting malaria elsewhere.

6. Malaria reinforces poverty.
Malaria not only threatens people living in poverty; it exacerbates the problem. Where malaria is rampant, economic growth and development suffer enormously.

7. Climate change will expand the scourge of malaria.
Rising temperatures and increased rainfall and humidity will increase the range and number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Studies suggest that a rise in global temperatures of just two to three degrees Celsius could put hundreds of millions more people at risk for contracting malaria.

8. Malaria is easily treatable and preventable.
Preventing malaria is as simple as avoiding mosquito bites. Since the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite are nocturnal, sleeping under a bed net at night is generally an adequate prevention measure.

If detected early, malaria can be treated and cured with a course of prescription drugs in a matter of days. The disease becomes dangerous when it is not detected quickly and medicine is not readily available.

9. Globally, humanity is winning the battle.
In the last 15 years, malaria incidence has decreased by 37 percent among at-risk populations. In those same populations, death rates were more than halved. Additionally, the death rate among young children has gone down 65 percent.

10. Malaria can be eradicated.
Adult mosquitoes only live for one or two weeks, and they don’t travel far from the location at which they hatched. If communities have the means to prevent transmission completely, the disease can be erased locally in a matter of weeks. According to Bill Gates, the international community can, with some determination, eradicate the disease globally in the next two or three decades.

Global efforts have proven that eradication is possible. In the past decade, Europe eliminated its indigenous cases of malaria completely, and in September, WHO declared Sri Lanka, a country of more than 20 million people, malaria-free. If Gates is right, the rest of the world may soon follow.

– Charlie Tomb

Photo: Flickr

,

Water Quality in Cambodia: Benefits Health and Economy

Improving Water Quality in Cambodia for Health and Economical Benefits

Water quality in Cambodia is a national problem. As of 2014, UNICEF reported that 6.3 million out of 14.9 million Cambodians, nearly half of the population, lacked access to clean drinking water.

Rural regions often struggle to address standing water and runoff as a result of inadequate infrastructure, particularly during the May to November monsoon season.

In some villages, rain water is collected and stored in cement structures. In the absence of expensive water treatment systems, the stored water may harbor parasites.

Heavy rain may also leave standing water, which contributes to the proliferation of pests like snakes and mosquitoes. Rain and standing water also become a problem when trash and refuse are left outside of buildings, where they can contaminate the water that drains into agricultural fields or later joins groundwater.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in the Asia-Pacific region where Cambodia is located, nearly 80 percent of waste water is untreated when it is released.

The issue of standing water and untreated waste water explains why outbreaks of waterborne diseases follow precipitation events – an issue of huge concern, in a country with a six-month rainy season. Indeed, the ABD says, the Asia-Pacific region is a “global hot spot for water insecurity.”

Water quality in Cambodia urgently needs to be addressed. The second leading cause of death for children under five years of age is diarrhea, which is a common result of waterborne illness. Even so, 40 percent of primary schools and 35 percent of clinics in Cambodia lack clean water.

Economic development is also dependent on water quality. Rana Flowers, Cambodia’s UNICEF representative, explains that “Attention to rural water supply, sanitation, and hygiene will unquestionably deliver results — less child deaths, better learning at school, less disease, more productive workers, less health costs for the people and the system.”

Further, the ADB expects water demands in the Asia-Pacific region to increase 55 percent by the year 2050, for domestic needs and as a result of the growth in manufacturing and thermal electricity generation. To complicate matters further, climate change is likely to contribute to problems of water scarcity and extreme weather. Water treatment plans that enable the safe reuse of water will be important for addressing water scarcity while protecting public health.

Even so, water quality in Cambodia has improved in recent years. UNICEF reports that around 21,000 new wells have been constructed in Cambodia since 1983, and as a result, as many as 420,000 families now benefit from clean water.

In addition, UNICEF works with the government to educate communities on the risks of contaminants like arsenic, to test wells for these contaminants, and to establish safer sources of water. As sanitation improves, more students, especially girls, are able to attend school.

As new water treatment infrastructure is put into place and older systems are updated in Cambodia and elsewhere, information regarding the efficacy of different sanitation technologies against dangerous pathogens will be vital.

The Global Water Pathogen Project aims to provide this information via online, open-access articles in “a developing platform to support global exposure assessments, risk assessments, and enable evaluation of sanitation technologies for achieving health-based targets.” Through this work, the organization contributes to goals set in place by UNESCO, the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation.

– Madeline Reding

Photo: Flickr

, ,

Top Diseases in Mexico: Symptoms, Prevalence & Treatment

Top Diseases in Mexico
Diseases can prove very hard to prevent, control, and treat; and, many countries suffer from maladies that cannot be tamed. Mexico is no exception, and the top diseases in Mexico can inflict a great deal of damage. A summarization of each disease can be found below, including details on how the illness is transmitted and treated, the symptoms, and prevention tactics.

Top Diseases in Mexico

  1. Hepatitis A
    Hepatitis A can be spread via contaminated food or water or spread through person-to-person contact. A person-to-person transmission can occur when an infected person’s stool is ingested by a non-infected person through poor hygiene practices. Poor hygiene and sanitation practices are the results of letting half the country’s population live in abject poverty; without clean drinking water or sewage services, hepatitis A spreads easily and is now endemic to the population of Mexico. To clarify, if a disease is endemic that means the illness is regularly found among a population; for Mexico, hepatitis A is found throughout the entire country.
  2. Dengue Virus
    This virus is transmitted by mosquitos. Symptoms at the beginning of incubation of the virus include a sudden high fever, joint pain and headaches. Dengue is endemic to all of Mexico as well, except for the state of Baja California Norte and other areas of higher elevation because mosquitoes carrying the virus cannot survive at the higher elevations. Dengue may progress into dengue shock syndrome, a rare complication including a hemorrhagic fever, damage to lymph and blood vessels, bleeding from the nose and gums, enlargement of the liver, and even failure of the circulatory system, which can cause death. Taking aspirin accelerates the onset of symptoms of dengue shock syndrome, as aspirin thins the blood, so it is important to quickly ascertain that dengue is causing a patient’s symptoms before administering medication. Protection against contracting the dengue virus is easy: use bug spray, wear layers outdoors, and make sure bug screens in the home have no holes or tears for mosquitoes to fly through. Although seemingly simple, these precautions are monumental tasks for the poor of Mexico, who struggle to provide food for their families, let alone mosquito repellant.

Elevating the Impoverished

Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are more likely to disproportionately affect those in lower economic classes. The Baker Institute mentions that these diseases, also known as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), are widespread in Mexico’s poorest southern states such as Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Mayan villages on the outskirts of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Elevating the status and resource access of the impoverished in Mexico is an absolutely essential measure to alleviating the top diseases in Mexico.

– Bayley McComb

Photo: CNN

,

Saving Mothers, Giving Life Decreases Maternal Mortality Rates

Maternal Mortality Rates
In Zambia and Uganda, Saving Mothers, Giving Life is a public-private partnership founded by the USAID and put into action by former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in 2012. Saving Mothers, Giving Life has been a key factor in reducing the overwhelming, preventable problem of maternal mortality rates in Zambia and Uganda. The maternal mortality rates in these countries are some of the highest in the world but thankfully, these rates have declined since 2007.

The Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) reported that maternal mortality rates were around 591 deaths for every 100,000 live births, and neonatal mortality rates were around 34 deaths for every 1000 births.

Many of the causes for these maternal deaths stem from a lack of knowledgeable midwives, a scarce quantity of necessary equipment, poor referral systems and precarious accessibility to lifesaving care.

For example, USAID’s Senior Maternal and Newborn Health Advisor and the U.S. Government lead for Saving Mothers, Giving Life Claudia Morrissey Conlon states that “the nearest hospital [for most Zambian citizens] is 60 kilometers away—40 of them over a rough gravel road. Lacking a cell tower, health center staff would walk or ride 27 kilometers in order to call for an ambulance.

Saving Mothers, Giving Life strives to reduce maternal mortality and neonatal deaths by improving local health systems at a district level, and adding trained midwives who can deliver babies and simultaneously treat the complications that can occur during the delicate process of childbirth.

This preventative initiative was originally launched in four of Uganda’s and Zambia’s districts and has procured tremendous results in both countries. Both Uganda and Zambia saw their maternal mortality rates decrease by thirty-five percent in just one calendar year.

This quick and inspiring statistical turn allowed the program to heavily expand in 2014, adding twelve more districts in Zambia and six in Uganda. The 2015 mid-initiative report stated that “maternal deaths have decreased by 41 percent—not just among women who delivered in a facility, but among the districts’ entire population.”

Saving Mothers, Giving Life allowed the Kabarole District in Zambia to create a Demand Creation Committee that informs women on the advantages of delivering their babies in established health facilities.

The Kabarole District uses its health facilities and local radio stations to educate the public on family planning and prenatal care visits. Thanks to these additional efforts that have allowed local organizations’ to combine forces, “nearly 90 percent of women are now giving birth in a facility, compared to 63 percent at the outset of the initiative.”

Saving Mothers, Giving Life has been so incredibly successful since the program’s implementation in 2012 that the initiative has changed many societal norms regarding childbirth in these countries. The initiative is already expanding to countries like Nigeria and serves as a model for other countries to follow suit.

Since Saving Mothers, Giving Life can be sustained for the long term, countries are gaining the tools to be able to take care of themselves and effectively treat the many problems that can occur during childbirth.

Such capabilities are extremely pertinent if countries like Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria want to become self-sustaining. These countries have made extraordinary strides in healthcare and as a result, their future looks more promising than ever.

– Terry J. Halloran

Photo: Flickr

,

Hepatitis A, Dengue Virus Top Diseases in Mexico

Diseases in MexicoSome of the top diseases in Mexico that people contract are Hepatitis A and the dengue virus. Below, each of the diseases will be summarized, including how they are transmitted, their symptoms, prevalence of the diseases in Mexico and how to combat the diseases.

Hepatitis A can be spread via contaminated food or water or spread through person-to-person contact wherein an infected person’s stool is ingested by a non-infected person through poor hygiene practices.

Poor hygiene and sanitation practices are the results of letting half the country’s population live in abject poverty; without clean drinking water or sewage services, Hepatitis A spreads easily and became endemic to the population of Mexico.

If a disease is endemic, that means it is regularly found among a population; for Mexico, Hepatitis A is found throughout the entire country.

Mosquitos transmit the dengue virus. Its symptoms at the beginning of incubation of the virus, includes a sudden, high fever, joint pain, and headaches.

Dengue is endemic to all of Mexico as well, except for the state of Baja California Norte and other areas of higher elevation, as mosquitoes carrying the virus cannot survive at the higher elevations.

Dengue may progress into dengue shock syndrome, a rare complication including a hemorrhagic fever, damage to lymph and blood vessels, bleeding from the nose and gums, enlargement of the liver, and even failure of the circulatory system, which can cause death.

Taking aspirin accelerates the onset of symptoms of dengue shock syndrome, as aspirin thins the blood, so it is important to quickly ascertain that dengue is causing a patient’s symptoms before administering medication.

Protection against contracting the dengue virus is easy: use bug spray, wear layers outdoors, and make sure bug screens in the home have no holes or tears for mosquitoes to fly through, but these are monumental tasks for the poor of Mexico, who struggle to provide food for their families, let alone mosquito repellant.

Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes like dengue are more likely to disproportionately affect those in lower economic classes. The Baker Institute mentions that these diseases, also known as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), are widespread in Mexico’s poorest southern states such as Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Mayan villages on the outskirts of the Yucatan Peninsula.

– Bayley McComb

Photo: Flickr

, , ,

The Continued Fight Against Malnutrition in Rwanda

Malnutrition in Rwanda

In July, the Rwanda Biomedical Center and UNICEF ran a health awareness campaign in Rwamagana, which revolved around the continued fight against malnutrition in Rwanda.

Rwanda has made impressive developmental progress since the tragedy in 1994. According to the Ministry of Health, the mortality rate for children under 5 has declined more than 60 percent since the 1990s.

Despite this progress, the stunting of children under 5 remains at 38 percent, due to chronic malnutrition, nutritional imbalance and food insecurity. The recent campaign in Rwamagana reported that this number could be cut in half, as long as parents personally ensured that their children were eating the recommended diet.

Stunting is particularly prevalent in rural areas, for these regions are typically the most impoverished and the least educated – both critical influences on the likelihood of malnutrition.

Stunting hinders physical and psychological growth, permanently affecting a child’s long-term development and capacity. Given these dire consequences, the government has scaled up community health outreach, mobilizing door-to-door nutrition education in the most remote areas.

Malnutrition doesn’t usually take lives directly, instead increasing childhood susceptibility to death from diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea and HIV. Particularly, malnutrition decreases the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy, making this chronic condition a large roadblock in the management of the HIV pandemic in Rwanda.

In rural areas, the availability of nutritious food is scarce, especially during agricultural lean periods. The typical diet of cereals and tubers is completely nutritionally imbalanced, leading to deficiencies in protein, iron, vitamin A and iodine.

The government has been working ceaselessly to reduce malnutrition in Rwanda through community organization, mass media initiatives and investment in a National Nutrition Policy. This policy aims to promote sectoral collaboration, simultaneously reducing poverty through the investment in human health.

The Rwamagana campaign targeted lifestyle changes as essential components of the fight against chronic malnutrition. These grim statistics could be transformed through increased parental responsibility, the promotion of alternative sources of income during agricultural setbacks and the assistance of smallholder farmers.

Food insecurity is a primary element of malnutrition, so linking small farmers to their markets is essential. WFP’s Purchase for Progress does just this, providing strength, support and security to rural Rwandan economies.

The WFP and the government additionally fight malnutrition in Rwanda through grassroots community involvement programs, including home grown school feeding programs, monthly childhood growth monitoring and baby-friendly hospital initiatives to promote breastfeeding.

The government of Rwanda understands that the reduction of malnutrition is a complex feat; requiring support from many sectors, such as health, education, commerce and agriculture. Ensuring equal access to nutritional education and treatment is crucial to countrywide hunger alleviation.

Chronic malnutrition in Rwanda interferes with many of the Millennium Development Goals, as it sustains poverty, obstructs educational progress and facilitates the detrimental impact of preventable diseases. With continued focus and diligence, Rwanda can continue to make progress in the promotion of its children’s health.

– Larkin Smith

Photo: Flickr

,

How Poverty Exacerbates Illegal Organ Trading

How Poverty Exacerbates Illegal Organ Trading
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for extremely poor families around the world to go through extreme measures in order to make money. Some households have resorted to the unusual tactic of organ trading on the black market to afford food and other necessities.

The issue also affects the Western world as a 2014 piece in the Sunday Post highlights the prevalence of black market organ selling in the United Kingdom. Though it is highly illegal, those desperate for both money and organs often turn to social media to plan their transactions.

Jeff Powell from the U.K.-based anti-poverty charity aptly named War on Want says, “It is shocking that people are so poor that they would be willing to sell a kidney for cash. This level of desperation is a direct result of governments… and the interests of the rich over the fight against poverty and inequality.” At the time of publication, 10,000 people in the U.K. were in need of an organ transplant, leaving many opportunities for potential sellers.

Multiple instances of illegal organ trades in Iraq have made the news recently. Since over 22 percent of the Iraqi population lives in poverty, families sometimes take desperate measures to make money. In Iraq, gangs offer up to $10,000 for a kidney on the black market.

In Iraq, it is only legal to donate organs to relatives, but illegal traders find ways (ie forging documents or signatures) around this rule. A surgeon in Baghdad explains that healthcare workers are not held responsible for illegal donations because “… in some cases, we have doubts, but this is not enough to stop the surgery because without it people will die.”

An Iraqi human rights lawyer feels sympathy for those who turn to selling organs saying, “Picture this scenario: an unemployed father who does not have any source of income to cater for his children. He sacrifices himself. I consider him a victim and I have to defend him.”

Illegal organ trading is also prevalent in Bangladesh, where many poor citizens are faced with repaying loans from non-governmental organizations that they cannot afford. Some individuals grow tired of dodging debt collectors and see the organ black market as their only option.

A University of Michigan anthropology professor explains that these exchanges are often done under sub-par conditions. “There is no safeguard as to where the organs are coming from and how safe they are, and on the other hand, the seller’s health deteriorates after the operation. That has a huge impact on their earning capacity because they cannot go back to their old physically demanding jobs.”

Although it is not foolproof, Iran seems to have found a possible solution to illegal organ trading: legalization. Iran has the only government-supported program involving trading organs for monetary compensation, but the terms vary by district. However, some Iranian markets favor the recipient, meaning that sellers may not be compensated as much as they would like. Those who do sell their organs also receive a free year of health insurance from the government and are not required to enlist in the usually mandatory military service.

Sigrid Fry-Revere, an American bioethicist is the president of the American Living Organ Donor Network and believes the US and other countries around the world should be following Iran’s example. Their arrangement allows those in poverty to make money and decreases those waiting for much-needed transplants.

Though Iran’s organ transplant programs are far from perfect, they seem to be one step ahead of many countries around the world. A legalized procedure almost guarantees safe surgery conditions for both recipients and sellers, and works to provide a mutually beneficial trade.

– Carrie Robinson

Photo: Flickr