This article talks about good news and bad news about tuberculosis. TB is the second, behind HIV, infectious killer to adults. The good news, TB rates have dropped from nine million to 8.8 million. Also, data show that the death rates have dropped by 40% within the last decade, except Africa. This is not a surprise however. The biggest drop however, was by China. China dropped rates by 80%! This is interesting, but it makes sense. China is on the rise to becoming a developed country, and has a “stable” government compared to the developed countries. Their IMR is low as well. A stable government is the key to being able to control pandemics and epidemic outbreaks. The infection needs access to health care, and in developed countries they are more likely to have that access. Maybe not every person that needs it, but more than just a few. Also, a non-corrupt government is more likely to let foreign aid in and help out without a threat to those workers. In corrupt governments, they do not care about their people, and aid sometimes is denied. It is a global problem.
The bad news, multi-drug strain resistant TB is spreading at a fast and scary rate, and there are not as many drugs to cure it anymore. Unfortunately, this is going to affect the developing countries the most because of the lack of a stable government. To keep this from becoming a crisis, the country needs to be defensive against it. Some developing countries do not have prevention, but try to react. However, sometimes they cannot even react defensively against it and are helpless. New strains are being tested everyday, so for the countries that can be preventative and fight against it they are in decent shape, but what about the developing countries?
http://www.care2.com/causes/world-health-organization-reports-first-ever-decline-in-tb.html
I can not believe the death caused by tuberculosis rate has gone down significantly. It is such a good thing to hear. However, on the other hand, it is very scary that the new TB strain is spreading so quickly. Also, it's sad that this strain will be affecting the countries because of their lack of their stable government.
ReplyDeleteTuberculosis seems to be an often overlooked epidemic. National campaigns seem to focus on other worthy causes such as AIDS and malaria, but TB is just as important. The good news is great to hear, but is outweighed by the devastating reality of countries not being able to prevent new strains. Countries with unstable governments and economies are affected even more harshly by TB.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point here that the government matters a lot. Even if aid is given, you need a stable government to benefits the most from that aid. With the stable government that China has, they are the ones who have benefited the most with aid the world has provided. Not only can this be seen in TB rates but pretty much every other category. That is really great news that we are progressing in reducing TB but like you said the negative is drug resistance. We need to do further research and that might be the only way to continue to help reduce TB rates.
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