Category Archives: brain food

Civilian Power and U.S NTD Diplomacy Abroad

brain food, NTDs

Yesterday June 28th, 2011,  Sabin Vaccine Institute President  Dr. Peter J. Hotez published an article in PLoS Journal titled “Unleashing “Civilian Power”: A New American Diplomacy through Neglected Tropical Disease Control, Elimination, Research, and Development.” Last year, U.S Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton expressed  a new outlook for American diplomacy and development through strengthening “civilian power”. Civilian Power is described as:

[T]he new doctrine calls for the creation of a new cadre of civilian experts who could jointly pursue diplomacy and international development for purposes of solving global challenges related to health, agriculture and food insecurity, environmental degradation, drugs and organized crime, energy, and climate change .

Secretary Clinton’s intends to exercise this new doctrine by leveraging the distinct strengths of the State Department and USAID in carrying out U.S Foreign Policy.  In “the coming years the State Department and USAID would now work more closely to enhance global development in the context of diplomacy”

In this paper, Dr. Hotez delineates the reasons why NTDs should be a major part of Secretary Clinton’s forthcoming campaign to strengthen our diplomacy efforts abroad.  He writes that “there are a number of reasons why taking on the NTDs would be a worthy early first test for civilian power. It is now possible to control or in some cases eliminate one or more of the seven most common NTDs.” Putting more energy into NTD control efforts resonates with Secretary Clinton’s empowering and strengthening  fragile states

Because the NTDs destabilize these communities and also represent important impediments to human rights , , NTD control should comprise an essential element of civilian power for the reinvention of American diplomacy and development.

Free NTD Reads for Lunch!

brain food, NTDs

Greetings from End the Neglect!

Learn something new; Catch up with happenings around the world; Supplement your coffee with some of our reading suggestions below!

  1. Lymphatic Filariasis in Australia […]

Patient 1:

A 28-year-old man presented to the emergency department with a 2-day history of a right groin lump, scrotal discomfort and swelling. He was systemically well without urinary symptoms.

  1. New School of Tropical Medicine is bad news for Perry

Why is it bad news for Gov. Perry when Science Magazine reports that the head of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Peter Hotez, is leaving George Washington University and moving the 20 plus person vaccine development team to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston?

  1. Elimination of Onchocerciasis is Feasible

Dr Yameogo indicated that to effectively eliminate the disease, there was the need for more commitment from afflicted countries and donors adding that it was pertinent for countries to contribute a minimum of 25 per cent of the budget needed while donors threw in the remaining 75 per cent needed to implement the programme within countries.

  1. WHO-based Research Programme Wins 2011 Gates Award For Global Health

TDR – the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases that is based at WHO and co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank and WHO – has been given the 2011 Gates Award for Global Health. At a ceremony in Washington, DC the evening of 16 June, the world’s largest public health prize was presented to TDR Director Dr Robert Ridley.

ENJOY!

Africa Looks to the East

Africa and China, brain food, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, opinion, Politics

By: Charles Ebikeme

In April, China released its first white paper on foreign aid, detailing and outlining its strategy
on aid towards Africa, from financial resources, debt relief, humanitarian aid, and infrastructure
projects. Some saw the white paper as a response to claims of self-serving neocolonialist
tactics by the Chinese, driven by the need for China to sustain its economic development.

While much of the debate on international interest in Africa as an investment destination has
focused on China, India is also showing increased engagement on the African continent. In
May, India offered loans totaling US$5 billion. This came at the top of the second India-Africa
Forum Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The extent of India’s involvement in Africa, looking to
match China’s stake-hold, ranges from a new Ethio-Djibouti railway, increased African airline
access to Indian cities, new institutions, as well as lines of credit. India, like China, are also
looking towards political and diplomatic alignment.

China and India, tout a shared common interest with their foreign aid, as both donor and recipients are themselves developing countries. The Indian Prime Minister commenting on a shared former colonial past; “India-Africa partnership is unique and owes its origins to history and our common struggles against colonialism, apartheid, poverty, disease.”

The “post-American world” is seeing the rise of this brand of South-South development cooperation. Indeed, the development landscape is changing as emerging countries become more prominent. In a development aid will be ruled by China, India and Brazil. However, not often enough does the aid debate focus on disease. Aid seems to be still fueled by an interest to grow markets. At a time when some nations in Africa are calling on in fighting tropical diseases.

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25 Years with Elephantiasis.

brain food, lymphatic filariasis, NTDs, parasites

Picture taken by THEMBA MASEKO

42 year old Jimmy Mgqwashu from Bluegum View, South Africa has been living in agony for over 25 years after his left leg became infected with elephantiasis in 1985.  According to Mgqwashu, he was on a trip to fetch wood in nearby mountains when a small cut from loose barbed wire along the way began to swell a few days later.  At first, it just appeared to be a bad cut so he was prescribed an anodyne.   According to Mgqwashu, not long after he went to the clinic, his leg grew bigger.  Unfortunately, the clinic nearby was not prepared to treat his illness. He says:

[i]n 1987 I went to Paul Kruger Hospital in Rustenburg to get some help. The doctors told me that I had elephantiasis and they couldn’t treat this condition because it needed a specialist.

Mgqwashu’s experience is not singular. Sadly, millions of people around the world with,for example, poor access to healthcare, low-incomes, or who live in rural, hard to access settings have a difficult time acquiring live saving health services to prevent and treat ailments.

Mgqwashu explains that “[his] leg is really heavy and [that he] can barely walk. [Since the infection has grown, his] future has been bleak since then.”  These sentiments represent another issue many people like Jimmy face after falling ill; their work productivity drops significantly which has a devastating impact on their disposable income and social participation in the community. One topic that isn’t discussed enough is the impact of elephantiasis on the afflicted man or woman’s sexual health and wellness. Mgqwachu points out that “[he doesn’t] even have a wife and all the women run away because they think that [he] might leave them with this disease. [He is] a man and [he] needs to satisfy [his] libido.” Because acute elephatiasis, clincally referred to as lymphatic filariasis, is an inflammation of the skin, lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels. According to WHO

When lymphatic filariasis develops into chronic conditions, it leads to lymphoedema (tissue swelling) or elephantiasis (skin/tissue thickening) of limbs and hydrocele (fluid accumulation). Involvement of breasts and genital organs is common.  Such body deformities lead to social stigma, as well as financial hardship from loss of income and increased medical expenses. The socioeconomic burdens of isolation and poverty are immense.

Thankfully, the CEO of Pholosong Hospital, Sfiso Maseko, picked up Mgqwashu’s story and assures him that “there is a treatment for this condition.”  He encourages Mgqwashu to “bring the papers he was given including the file number so that [he] can provide treatment for his leg.”

Read the original story here.

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