Global Disease Goes Beyond AIDS and Tuberculosis

By Jackie Jacobsen

Mention "global disease," and HIV/AIDS and avian flu are the first illnesses to jump to mind. Growing awareness of the disease and its societal ramifications spurred the international community into action, spending billions of dollars in prevention programs to restrain the spread of the disease, and laboratory research to find a cure for the syndrome. AIDS, along with malaria and tuberculosis, tagged the "Big Three" by development activists and NGO leaders, has received an overwhelming amount of media attention, and programs to eradicate these diseases remain highly funded and highly exposed.
However, smaller, less eminent diseases continue to ravage vulnerable nations in debilitating numbers. Referred to as the "10/90 Gap" by the Global Forum for Health Research, it describes how only 10% of worldwide spending on health research is focused on diseases that affect 90% of the world's population. It is estimated that, in the last 30 years, of the 1556 new medicines were introduced, only 10 could be used to combat diseases prevalent in developing regions.
Yet global health has improved markedly over the past 30 years. Child immunizations have increased dramatically, from 5% in 1977, to 75% in 1990. Life expectancies have continued to climb throughout the globe. New vaccinations for previously untreatable diseases, such as malaria and smallpox, have significantly reduced infection rates. Polio in Latin America, as well as river blindness in Africa, now affect fewer individuals than ever before in history.
Although life expectancy numbers are high, they do not take the "burden of disease" – morbidity, disability, and limited capacity to work – into account. According to GFHR, the burden of disease affects not only stricken individuals but entire economies. While individuals may lose earning power, educational skills, and psychological well-being, national economies will also suffer from losses in production, poorly trained workers, and additional demands on already weak health infrastructure.
"The burden of disease ruins lives and entire communities," writes Bjorn Lomborg, a noted activist. "Nine out of ten deaths from communicable diseases in the developing world are avoidable." Communicable diseases include diarrhea, measles, ringworm, and chagas disease, and claim nearly 15 million lives a year in vulnerable countries, and account for 30% of all deaths in these regions. Diarrhea alone causes the death of nearly 2 million children under the age of 5 in the developing world, with heavy numbers in Africa and Southeast Asia. Most often caused by bacterial toxins in water, this illness is easily preventable through the provision of clean drinking and bathing water. Because bacterial diarrhea does not command headlines and fundraisers to the extent of AIDS and avian flu, medicines and other treatment options have not come flooding in. However, one corporation, Nepo Pharmaceuticals, has announced its plans to bring a new antidiarrheal drug to millions of customers in vulnerable nations.
"The pharmaceutical industry of the future needs to include emerging and developing economies," said Lisa Conte, founder and CEO of Nepo. "We're not going to be able to enjoy the pricing we have in the past." Leaders of developed nations echoed these words at the G8 conference last week, where they encouraged wealthy nations "to enable developing nations without manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector to import medicines they need."
While treatments for communicable diseases exist, new health threats are emerging for citizens of vulnerable countries. According to a report by the World Health Organization, excessive UV radiation from prolonged exposure to the sun now causes 60,000 deaths worldwide. The WHO also credits air, water, and soil pollution, along with the negative consequences of rapid climate change, with increasing environmental factors that may directly lead to the deterioration of health in vulnerable countries.