Analysis of NTD
Summary
Neglected tropical diseases (NTD) refer to the diseases that traditionally have received less attention as compared to other global health infections such as Malaria, TB or AIDS. Despite of this fact it is estimated that sixty percent of the globes population- about 1.4 billion people suffers from at least one of the NTDs. Most NTDs are not fatal but this is not to mean that they do not cause any negative effects. NTD have been known to cause disfigurement, disability and for making the patients suffer from other effect such that they become unable to go to schools or work. Most of this NTDs thrive in dry areas and places with poor sanitation (David & Patrica 2010). Non-Governmental Development Organizations (NGDO) has been on the forefront in curbing these diseases through partnering with other agencies such as pharmaceutical companies. The efforts that NGDO is making caused a lot of progress as far as the NTD is concerned.
Onchocerciasis-river blindness is one of the crucial NTD caused by parasites from being bitten by infected black flies. Onchocerciasis has caused blindness to about half a million people especially those in remote and hard to reach areas. The NGDO for onchocerciasis was formed in 1992 with the aim of formalizing the use of Mecizan- onchocerciasis drug that was made by Dr. Andrian Hopkins and donated by Merck & co., Inc. This initiative has helped in stopping unnecessary blindness among many people.
Trachoma is another NTD causing impaired vision and eventually blindness to the infected person. It is estimated that a total of 1.3 million people globally have become blind due to trachoma. Various agency have tried to fight trachoma and, in 2004, the International coalition for trachoma Control was formed with two primary aims: First it was to enhance the efforts geared towards Trachoma elimination and secondly to sensitize and implement WHO- proposed SAFE strategies- antibiotics, surgery, facial cleanliness and environmental cleanliness.
The individual NGDO groups discussed above agreed to form a coalition after realizing that they had similar concerns. Hopkins became their main source of funding. They faced some challenges especially on prioritizing their goals and objectives but have since worked on them. The NTD NGDO’S are making great impacts in creating awareness, advocacy, prevention, treatment and elimination of NTDs.
It is imperative to say that the NTDs are causing a lot of negative effects to people across the globe and, just because they are not fatal, they have not been given the attention they deserve. Even though these diseases hardly cause death they cause permanent disabilities such as blindness and lameness which can be very disastrous to the victims.
Another issue of key importance to note is that these NTDs can be prevented or treated. The main issues surrounding the treatment and prevention of these NTDs are the fact that the people who are most vulnerable live in reserved areas where there is usually no accessible roads. These people are also less likely to gain access to news about the NTDs so out of their ignorance they continue suffering (Josefa et al, 2013). Since NTDs are prominent in marginalized areas with poor sanitation and proper water supply the prognosis of the patient in those areas is usually poor and in most cases they get the worst possible outcomes following an infection if there is no intervention.
Insufficiency of money and resource for curbing the effects of NTDs is also another issue. Most of the victims of these infections are often poor and may not be able to afford treatment cost. They rely on charity and philanthropists to explain the diseases and save them from the misery. At other times they may look for other traditional justifiable ways of explaining the diseases especially in the sub-Saharan Africa. Some victims may consult which doctors who are illiterate and the most explanations often given for diseases such as LF is bewitchment. These alternative explanations are misleading to the victims.
At other times the victims of the NTDs are stigmatized because of the deformation that the infections cause (Josefa et al, 2013). The stigma is even worse when the people in the community do not understand the cause of the NTD, which is often the case. Some children for example who have been chronically affected and have become lame may be hidden by their parents or guardians in the house and not be allowed to play with other children.
Global health Issues are to some extent caused by poverty especially in sub Saharan Africa. Most NTDs are categorized as key global health issues, which needs to be eradicated but usually there is no enough resources and finances to help the low income group. Furthermore when healthy adults get infected with these diseases they stop working and the regions become even poorer.
Sanitation and good water supply is also a global health challenge and NTDs are mainly a result of unhygienic living. The people may want to drink clean water but they could be living in arid and semi-arid areas where there is no clean water leaving them with no alternative but to take the water from streams and rivers which may be infected.
Climate change is yet another global health issue in this time. The earth is becoming more arid and water shortage is now a challenge to many households. Given that NTD prevails more in areas lacking good supply of water the climate change becomes an issue even in trying to eradicate these NTDs.
Solutions to the Issues
It is of key importance to create great awareness about the NTDs especially in communities where the diseases are likely to infect many people (Heather, 2010). Awareness could be created through encouraging specific governments to include the programs on various NTDs in the education curriculum, seminars, workshops and meetings where the community members can be taught about the risk factors of NTDs. Further, awareness will pave ways of preventing them.
Sanitation is also a key factor if there is an aim of ever being able to eradicate the effects of NTDs. Awareness should be created and the public health personnel should cooperatively work with various agencies in ensuring that there is proper hygiene. Some water treatment methods could be provided to communities in arid and semi-arid areas so that even when they use water from the streams they can treat the water fast (Heather, 2010).
Issues on climate change can be addressed if all the nations will come together and fight the things that cause changes in the climate such as emissions of toxic substances by industries, deforestation, global warming among others. Environmental organizations need to work harder in creating awareness and preventing global warming in all the possible ways.
Reference
David W.T. Crompton, Patricia Peters (2010). Working to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases: First WHO report on neglected tropical diseases: World Health Organization. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/44440/1/9789241564090_eng.pdf
Heather Jameson (2012) Neglected Tropical Disease NGDO Network: A Global Partnership for the Health of the Bottom Billion 2nd edition: Alliance for case studies and global health puplishers.
Josefa Koroivueta, Eric Rafai, Wendy Snowdon, Devina Nand, Kim Sung-Hye. (2013). In this Issues: Neglected tropical disease in FIJI: Ministry of Health Fiji Island. http://www.health.gov.fj/PDFs/Fiji%20Journal%20of%20Public%20Health%20Vol2Issu e2.pdf
