As Policy Associate for the Global Network, my brain is filled on a day-to-day basis with jargon like ‘R.O.I.’ and ‘vertical vs. horizontal’ and ‘congressional budget justifications’. So to some extent, my attendance at today’s ASTMH clinical pre-course on NTDs felt like listening to experts speaking in another language, or at least in a distant dialect. ‘Micro-array analysis’ and ‘allelic distortion’ and ‘microfilaremia’ flew throughout the day, reminding me of the tremendous gaps between the technical and advocacy worlds of global health, both in the words we use and in the techniques through which we hope to achieve progress.
But relying back on my global health education, I was still able to take much away from the course, and I particularly enjoyed a number of anecdotes shared throughout the day:
- Dr. Alan Fenwick of the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative joked about Prince William of the UK acquiring schistosomiasis–a “rare tropical disease” to the British tabloids, but one that impacts over 200 million people globally.
- Dr. David Freedman of UAB told the story of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone who was infected with onchocerciasis for over a year upon return to the US before she received proper diagnosis and treatment–all the while suffering from itching, rash, and even an internal, muscular nodule.
- Dr. Paul Emerson from the Carter Center spoke movingly about trachoma. He showed a picture of a young woman with early stages of infection; she was not yet blind but was suffering incredible pain as her eyelashes constantly scratched her cornea. As a result, she could not work, farm, cook over an open fire, or even stand to be in the bright sunlight for long periods of time, leaving her physically, mentally, and socially depressed. As he reminded us, blindness is the most overt consequence of trachoma, but it is not the “full story.”
Leaving the course, I was most impressed by those who were able to take vast clinical knowledge and make it relevant even to the most wonky policy audience members. Because at the end of the day, even the most meaningful research on NTDs will not motivate corporations and governments to act unless we as advocates can compel them to do so.
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