Imagine not being able to buy a new pair of pants or even shoes that fit. Imagine not being able to buy lunch today. Or yesterday and the day before. Imagine not being able to feed your children. Is this poverty? To some, yes. To others it is just the beginning. Now envision not being able to take your infant for her first check up and vaccinations. Or not being able to pay $0.50 for medication to treat your children’s hookworm infection. All over the world, these problems are happening right now.
You may think, “what does poverty have to do with science and medicine?” But increases in poverty have been linked with many infectious diseases including hookworm infection, Chagas disease, malaria, and syphilis as well as other health problems such as obesity, diabetes, asthma, and dental disease.
Not only do these ailments exist mainly in poverty stricken areas, but these diseases actually promote the continuation of poverty. These diseases have numerous detrimental effects on pregnancy and healthy childbirth, the growth and development of children, and the productivity of adults. This vicious cycle of poverty and disease are close bedfellows and both need to be addressed to take a step towards eradicating poverty on a global scale.
If you search poverty and disease on pubmed, you come up with over 3,500 hits. Many researchers have shown correlations between poverty and health problems, and some are trying to do something about it. The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases Control is a partnership formed in 2006 as the first ever global effort to combat these diseases. Working with the World Health Organization, these groups are trying to increase awareness of the problems associated with the injurious poverty-health cycle, as well as change how these problems are dealt with.
It is not enough just to treat the disease. Likewise, it is not enough just to improve sanitation and housing. In addition to these steps, which are already being done, education in destitute areas, monitoring for new outbreaks, and continuing research and development of vaccines to prevent instead of merely treat disease are crucially important.
sources include:
Hotez. Hookworm and Poverty. Ann N.Y. Acad Sci. 200825 Jul. 1136: 38-44
Squassi A, et al. Reationship between oral health in children and poverty related factors. Acta Odontal Latinoam. 2008; 21(1): 49.
Hotez, et al. The anti-poverty vaccine. Vaccine. 2006 26 July 24(31-32); 5787.
November 4, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hi Kristen…nice blog there, and hello from a fellow science writer at Emory
November 10, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Hi! Thanks for your support. Your blog is great too. I will definitely add you to my blog roll, being a fellow emory writer and all 🙂
April 11, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Finally someone who can write a good blog ! I loved your post and will be telling others about it. Subscribing to your RSS feed now. Thanks
May 22, 2009 at 3:41 am
Молодца! Так держать! Подписываюсь!
October 23, 2009 at 5:56 am
This activity is ideal for students to work in pairs, but each student will have a tube of DNA at the end. ,
November 27, 2009 at 6:49 pm
..]one interesting source of information on this subjectis ,sciencematter.wordpress.com,..]
March 6, 2010 at 6:21 pm
EP2X3V Excellent article, I will take note. Many thanks for the story!
December 9, 2011 at 9:36 am
Your site is pretty cool to me and your topics are very relevant. I was browsing around and came across something you might find interesting. I was guilty of 3 of them with my sites. “99% of website owners are committing these five mistakes”. http://is.gd/5Ruq1b You will be suprised how fast they are to fix.
December 11, 2011 at 11:15 am
Your blog is really cool to me and your topics are very relevant. I was browsing around and came across something you might find interesting. I was guilty of 3 of them with my sites. “99% of website managers are committing these five HUGE mistakes”. http://is.gd/5Ruq1b You will be suprised how fast they are to fix.
December 13, 2016 at 2:47 am
Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts.
Anyway I’ll be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently
quickly.
April 28, 2017 at 7:51 pm
Every weekend i used to pay a quick visit this website, because i wish for enjoyment, as this this web page conations genuinely good funny information too.
May 4, 2017 at 11:15 am
Right away I am ready to do my breakfast,
afterward having my breakfast coming over again to read more news.
May 13, 2017 at 11:50 pm
聚星娱乐成立于2013年,是面向全球华人提供高端线上娱乐的24小时在线博彩娱乐城,聚星娱乐在菲律宾取得合法博彩执照,与多个国际知名投注平台合作。聚星娱乐,您的信息保密性对我们来说是最重要的,我们将提供128位SSL加密传输与MD5加密密码,在最大程度上保障您的信息安全。
聚星娱乐作为与多个国际知名游戏平台合作的在线娱乐运营商,我们对接入的所有平台均经过严格的筛选,只选用国际知名在线娱乐平台。保证让每位玩家在一个公平、公正的环境下进行游戏。同时菲律宾政府First Cagayan leisure and Resort Corporation会对游戏平台的数据进行监控最终确保游戏的公平性和真实性。
July 17, 2017 at 9:56 am
Awesome things here. I am very glad to peer your post.
Thank you so much and I’m looking forward to touch you.
Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
January 7, 2018 at 10:25 pm
I have noticed you don’t monetize your blog, don’t waste your traffic, you can earn additional bucks
every month because you’ve got hi quality content. If you want to know how to make extra
money, search for: Mertiso’s tips best adsense alternative
August 12, 2018 at 3:55 pm
I have noticed you don’t monetize your website, don’t waste your traffic, you can earn extra bucks every month.
You can use the best adsense alternative for any type of website (they approve all websites), for more
info simply search in gooogle: boorfe’s tips monetize your website
September 9, 2018 at 8:30 pm
top of The world carpenters chords
Blog Action Day 2008