Mark Green on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases
October 28th, 2009 | Posted by Jonathan ShradarMPC Managing Director Mark Green had his thoughts on the integration of malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) work published on the Global Network’s blog End the Neglect. He cites his firsthand experience in Africa and how we can work together to fight these diseases.
I have spent a lot of time as a teacher and Ambassador in Africa and one thing I remember is that sick Africans don’t visit different clinics depending on their illness. There are not separate clinics for malaria and river blindness in the most remote of villages. If communities are lucky enough to have even one clinic it must respond to and treat any number of diseases. I think our approach to global health efforts must recognize this and find ways to combine efforts for the greatest impact.
Malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are perfect examples of how we can pair efforts and they have seen success individually, showing us that we can realize improved health systems and an end to deaths from disease.
You can read the whole post at End the Neglect.
Categories:Domestic Political Action, Global Health Community
October 28th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
When we think of the individual – the women and children living in remote, rural areas of Africa there is no differentiation between diseases when it comes to suffering – you are either well and able to work or go to school, or you’re not. It’s no different here in the US – take the H1NI outbreak – Our children have missed more than 7 days of school cumulative and we’ve had to take off work to care for them. Imagine living in that environment everyday – no wonder why diseases like malaria and NTDs take such a toll on economic productivity.