By: Manuel Claros

The “Living Proof Project,” created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, features true life testimonials that demonstrate the positive impact that global health/development interventions can have on individuals across the globe. The touching stories inspire us to reflect on our own experiences by connecting us to theirs.  Sharing a personal story is different than just being another statistic, another number amongst the myriad of global health facts and figures we find ourselves inundated with constantly.

My personal story has had a deep impact on my life and where it has taken me. It is also why I was interested in starting a campaign to raise money for neglected tropical diseases. I am from Popayan, a small town in the south of Colombia and come from a big family where I am the eldest of 19 cousins on my paternal side and 16 on the maternal side. Growing up in my paternal grandmother’s house was a lot of fun because there were always a lot of kids to play with.  On the weekends at any given time there would be 10-20 kids in the house. While this was very fun, it also meant that sickness traveled frequently from child to child.  Everything from chicken pox to measles traveled through us all…..and of course parasites were not an exception.

I vividly remember being shorter and skinnier than the other kids at school. I recall feeling tired all the time and not being able to concentrate in school.  My mother also told me that I suffered from pica when I was very little.  Pica is the uncontrollable desire to eat non-food materials, and it is due to anemia resulting from parasites, like hookworm. Hookworm larvae enter the body through the skin and find their way to the small intestine. There, they mature into adult worms by attaching themselves to the intestinal wall and feeding on human blood. As the worms feed, they cause severe internal bleeding, leading to abdominal pain and diarrhea, anemia and eventual malnutrition. At this point, the host, usually a child, will have iron deficiency, which is a necessary component in blood cells. Children who suffer from pica usually are iron-deficient. Some children suffering from pica eat dirt, paint chips from walls, brick dust, shoe polish, etc. My cravings were mostly limited to ice and Vick’s vapor rub.

Luckily, there were health interventions available to my family and I in our community. We were all tested and treated for parasitic infections at least once a year. I remember being taken to the community health center where campaigns were held to de-worm kids. Sometimes we were taken to the family doctor to get de-wormed. As part of the treatment a stool sample was analyzed and treatment was given to all kids sometimes with pyrantel pamoate, tinidazol, mebendazol or albendazol amongst others.

Eventually, because I was regularly given treatment for parasites, the pica went away, my health improved, and I started growing and was not tired anymore.

As a teen, I excelled as a swimmer and water polo player. After graduation from medical school, I worked in poor villages where parasites were very common. When I emigrated to the United States, I started thinking on how to help other children who were living in regions where parasitic infections were very common. This led me to get involved with the Global Network by raising money to fund specific NTD projects. I am proud to talk about my fundraising efforts and know these funds will help today’s kids suffering from NTDs grow healthy and thrive to be part of a productive society.

Today, my extended family is made up of successful young professionals that were given the chance to thrive because of the public health interventions in my community.

But my story doesn’t end here. The next step in my journey to fighting NTDs comes in a few weeks where I will head to Honduras for a week to build latrines and pour concrete on dirt floors so kids can grow free of the burden of NTDs. I will also be on the look out for the next “living proof.”

Manuel Claros, winner of the individual Campus Challenge, is a graduate student at GW School of Public Health MPH Global Health policy.  He is a foreign medical graduate from Colombia  with 10 years of experience in HIV prevention and education. He enjoys photography, going to the movies, traveling and cooking.