I am a nurse with 20 years experience in infectious disease who specialized in parasitic diseases. This line of work introduced me to persons from all over the world - some of whom were escaping war zones and others who were just looking for a more promising life in America. Many were US citizens who moved to other countries to serve in the peace corps or work as missionaries, healthcare workers or wildlife conservationists. Still others were diplomats, ecotravelers and tourists. During this time I also attended many conferences that discussed the devastating effect some of these diseases had on people, their community and their country and how little it would cost to treat and eradicate them. However, funding for treatment and eradication of these diseases has been hard to come by as the big money and celebrity endorsements continue to go to cancer, HIV, and malaria research. And lets face it - parasitic diseases are not glamorous.
The idea for this blog is born out of my interest in parasitic diseases and my desire to help the people and countries affected by these diseases as well as enlighten others who have never heard of them. I also hope to enlighten those in the general medical community who may be providing care for persons who, unbeknown to them, may actually have one of these diseases.
One may think that these are "third world diseases" and something the US should not pay attention to - especially when we have so many problems of our own. However, that is not exactly true.
According to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI)1, the immigrant population in the US as of 2011 was estimated at 40.4 million, which was a historical numeric high for the country and the largest in the world with about 20 percent of all international migrants residing in the United States. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as those numbers do not include those who have entered the US illegally or those who are seeking asylum or are categorized as refugees. According to the UN Refugee Agency2 , in 2012 the US accepted more people for resettlement than any other country in the world. As of January 2012 there were 276,484 refugees and asylees living in the US.
Many of these immigrants (legal and illegal), refugees and asylees come from counties where parasitic diseases are endemic. When a person who is infected and untreated comes to the US, it is highly likely that at some point in time they will become ill from their disease and seek medical care in a healthcare system that may not be experienced in identifying and treating the disease. This in turn may lead to unnecessary testing and expense (of both time and money) thus further burdening our health care system. And it is not just the influx of persons from endemic countries who import the disease. Exposure and infection is also increasing in US citizens due to the popularity of ecotourism and volunteerism to endemic countries. These diseases do not discriminate. They affect infants, children, adults and the elderly no matter what their economic status, race or gender may be.
Again - the intent of this blog is to help shed light on neglected tropical diseases and not to cast blame or create distress or discord towards persons from other countries, the US healthcare system or the immigration laws. This blog is meant to serve as a teaching tool with hopes that with more information there will be a better understanding of these diseases and a further desire to aide in funding to prevent and treat those impacted by them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Knowledge becomes power only when we put it into use."
- Anonymous
No comments:
Post a Comment