End the Neglect

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Posts Tagged ‘Africa’

Trypanosomes, climate change and evolution; past and present

December 14th, 2011

By: Charles Ebikeme

“Trypanosomiasis has kept Africa green…”

The quote above comes from a book I can’t remember by an author whose name escapes me. In essence, it alludes to the inextricable relationship and balance that exists between all things on our planet, particularly the relationship between man and his environment. For a long time, we have known about the influence diseases can have on us, but we are only now beginning to realise its full extent.

The delicate relationship and inter-connected influence between human populations, climate, and the ecology of disease (vector-borne or otherwise) has unfolded over evolutionary time.

Photo credit: Britannica Encyclopedia

Genetically, some populations are predisposed to particular diseases. A study published in Science last year, showed African-Americans have higher rates of kidney disease than European-Americans. The reason, as postulated by the researchers, was due to variants of a gene (APOL1), common in African chromosomes but absent from European chromosomes. The gene codes for a serum factor that lyses (or harms) trypanosomes. It seems the evolution of a critical survival factor in Africa now contributes to the high rates of kidney disease in African-Americans.

Changes in African climate in the last 5-6 million years are thought to have mediated important modifications in the African environment and in the animals that live there. As the rivers changed, and as plant and animal species adapted to a changing climate, disease was brought to areas where it wasn’t before. These phenomena have marked important milestones in the evolution of humans and their predecessors. » Read more: Trypanosomes, climate change and evolution; past and present

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Posted in Africa, African Sleeping Sickness

Tags: Africa climate change Disease Environment Global Health Trypanosomes

New (problem) kids on the block: Neglected Tropical Diseases

December 7th, 2011

In Kenya, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are continually gaining more attention. With a recently launched five-year national plan to rid the country of NTDs and focused efforts on eliminating trachoma, the Kenyan government is working tirelessly to advocate for and treat the 1 in 2 Kenyans who suffer needlessly at the hands of NTDs. Below is an excerpt of an article published on AllAfrica.com, the largest electronic distributor of African news and information, that describes the burden of NTDs in Kenya, as well as identifying NTDs as one of the next major issues in global health:

Global Network Senior Resource Development Officer Valerie Fitton-Kane distributes Abendazole at Kahawa West Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya.

For years, HIV/AIDS has caused the government a lot of worry — and with good reason. From the time it was declared a national disaster, there have been numerous campaigns to sensitise the public, drowning Kenyans in information. Today, it is almost impossible to find anyone in Kenya who does not know anything about HIV/AIDS.

But now there is a new problem kid on the block: neglected tropical diseases. These are a group of chronic diseases with serious consequences that affect populations living in low-income rural areas of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. It is for this reason that neglected tropical diseases are also known as the diseases of the poor. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that at least one billion people are infected with neglected tropical diseases. In Kenya, about 50 per cent of the total population is infected with at least one neglected tropical disease. This has prompted the government to start to shift uncomfortably — having half the population sick does not exactly sit well on the road map to achieving Vision 2030. The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation has, therefore, embarked on a mission to fight the diseases. Click here to continue reading.

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Posted in Africa, MDA, NTDs

Tags: Abendazole Africa kenya Mass Drug Administration NTDs

UK NGO sets their sights on river blindness

November 23rd, 2011

Sightsavers, a UK-based NGO that addresses preventable blindness in the developing world and contributors to End the Neglect, is this year’s Financial Times (FT) seasonal appeal recipient. Sgithsavers will receive donations from British readers who contribute to the FT appeal, which will run from November 21 – mid-January. The UK government has also agreed to match individual donations made to the appeal. Click here for more information on the appeal. Below an excerpt on the current state of river blindness published in FT:

“The river in Nigeria’s poor, remote northern state of Zamfara has always played a central part in the 70-year-old’s life. He and his friends swam in it as boys “until our eyes were red”. It is a vital source of water for homes, livestock and crops in Mr Adamu’s village of Birninwaje, a fishing and farming community of 3,000 people, where he was for many years the traditional leader. It is also the source of his blindness. River blindness is endemic in these parts. The parasitical disease is named after the black flies that live near flowing waterways such as the Zamfara – and across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and parts of the Arabian peninsula – and transmit one of the world’s leading causes of blindness.” Click here to read the full article. Also, check Jeremiah Norris’ (Director, Center for Science in Public Policy, Hudson Institute) Letter to the Editor in response to this piece.

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Posted in Blindness, NTDs, Onchocerciasis

Tags: Africa Financial Times Hudson Institute onchocerciasis river blindness sightsavers

Kenya: Nation Setting Sights on Eliminating Blinding Disease

November 16th, 2011

Woman with trachoma. Photo credit: HKI

Just recently launching a five-year plan to eliminate NTDs, Kenya is working tirelessly to ensure that the country will soon be free of these parasitic diseases. Check out what’s currently being done in the fight against trachoma, one of the seven most common NTDs, in an article recently published in All Africa (the largest online distributor of Africa-focused news) and includes a quote from Global Network Managing Director Dr. Neeraj Mistry:

“Olenarau — Had a community health worker not found him at the rural Kenyan village of Olenarau, 65-year-old Tonke Nalakiti would still be blaming his failing sight on old age.

But the health worker, who was trained to identify patients infected with trachoma, succeeded in convincing Nalakiti that his condition could be corrected through simple surgery and antibiotics.

After a swab of iodine and a jab of anesthesia to ease the pain of incision, the elder from the remote village south of the capital, Nairobi, had the infection surgically corrected in less than 15 minutes.

National surveys indicate that Nalakiti is among some 3.4 percent of patients in Kajiado County whose trachoma has reached the blinding stage, making it a serious public health problem in that region and many other similarly remote areas with little access to health care and screening.” Click here to continue reading.