Why A Pill That's 4 Cents In Tanzania Costs Up To $400 In The U.S.
By Nadia Whitehead - NPR - December 11, 2017
Excerpts:
. . . And some of these disease aren't all that rare. Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, says certain neglected tropical diseases in the U.S. are surprisingly widespread, especially among those who may not be able to afford treatment. . . .
. . . "We have now identified nearly half-a-dozen neglected tropical diseases that are widespread in the U.S. among the poor, especially in the American South," says Hotez, who last year published Blue Marble Health, a book evaluating neglected diseases in America.
"In all, I estimate that 12 million Americans now live in extreme poverty with a neglected tropical disease." . . . . -
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth
Excerpt from book review:
Pages: 205; $28.95
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) comprise 17 helminthic, protozoan, bacterial, and vectorborne viral diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poor (1).
This diverse group of infections and infestations includes hookworms, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, dengue fever, and trachoma.
In Blue Marble Health, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and founding editor of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, shifts the focus of global health from a traditional developed versus developing world paradigm toward impoverished populations living amid wealthy countries, who suffer heavily from NTDs.
The book’s title invokes an iconic image of the earth as seen from space by the Apollo astronauts.
On the basis of previous work, Dr. Hotez asserts that nearly every person in poverty is infected with at least 1 NTD, “the most important diseases you’ve never heard of.” Blue Marble Health contains helpful summaries of 11 major NTDs in Chapter Two.
The main body of the text is organized according to the book’s geographic focus on the G20 countries (the world’s major economies) plus Nigeria.
These featured countries account for half of the world’s NTDs. It might surprise many to learn that 12 million US residents live with a neglected parasitic infection. Despite this widespread burden of disease, only 0.003% of world gross domestic product is spent on NTD research. . . .
[Full review at link above] -
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Keebler
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posted
- I've not read book nor listened to the full presentations. I'm thrilled to see that someone is paying attention to this matter. I'm not sure of all the ways he suggests approaching the matter, however vaccines seem to be at least part of this effort.
That creates another whole matter for many here can have problems with the additives in vaccines. Still, I can't go there now.
My point in posting all this is to learn about the "tropical" or "rare" diseases that I know - I just know - may contribute heavily to the problems of ill health and homelessness in our society.
It's vital for so many reasons to learn more about this problem even if we may not be on board with all the ways that this author might suggest for the action plan.
Blue Marble Health: A Plan to Fight Diseases of Poverty amid Wealth | Peter Hotez
TED x SugarLand
Oct 26, 2017 - 15-minute video
Into excerpt: . . . "we make vaccines for diseases . . . ."
[Poster's words: Still, so much more to this lecture - a valuable look at what's going on with parasitic disease in our own neighborhoods, perhaps.
And I would love to see safer ingredients used in the vaccines that can be life saving / life changing. It's not the concept of vaccine so much as the ingredients that can cause neuro issues for some.] -
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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About 3/4 through this, a link to what could be great news: development of PATCH vaccines that won't require all kinds of preservatives. -
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