Diseases:
Click on the menu below for detailed information and news articles about dozens of diseases that afflict lower income countries.
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Countries:
Click below for health statistics and indicators from a range of countries.
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Global disease statistics |
The diseases of poverty Much of the disease burden in low-income countries finds its roots in the consequences of poverty, such as poor nutrition, indoor air pollution and lack of access to proper sanitation and health education. The WHO estimates that diseases associated with poverty account for 45 per cent of the disease burden in the poorest countries.
- Tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS, for example, together account for nearly 18 per cent of the disease burden in the poorest countries.
- Diarrhoeal diseases still claim 1.8 million lives each year, most of whom are children.
- According to the WHO, exposure to biomass smoke increases the risk of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in childhood, particularly pneumonia. Globally, ALRI represent the single most important cause of death in children under 5 years and account for at least two million deaths annually in this age group.
- Malnutrition particularly affects people in poor countries. As a result of vitamin A deficiency, for example, 500,000 children become blind each year.
Many of the diseases of poverty can be prevented with pre-existing treatments and prevention programmes. It is
estimated that 88 per cent of child diarrhoeas, 91 per cent of malaria and up to 100 per cent of childhood illness, such as measles and tetanus, can be prevented among children using existing treatments. This means that up to 3 million child lives could be saved each year if these medicines could be distributed effectively to all areas of need. Diseases of rich and poor converging It is also worth observing that the disease burden of rich and poor countries is beginning to converge.
For example, non-communicable diseases such as cancers, neuropyschiatric and cardiovascular diseases – traditionally associated with high-income countries – now represent over 60 per cent of the total global disease burden, and impact both rich and poor countries.
Cardiovascular diseases alone account for one-quarter of all deaths in low mortality low-income countries, with this proportion set to rise as these countries gain access to diets richer in fats and calories. In absolute terms, non-communicable diseases now kill greater numbers of people in the lower-income countries than they do in high-income countries.
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| » | Away with Political Correctness
Professor James Chin argues that instead of spending billions of dollars "preventing" a general pandemic that is never going to happen, efforts should be focussed on helping the people at most risk from HIV / AIDS.
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| | » | 'Romantic' Aids cause diverts needed funds
Professor Karol Sikora, advisor to the British government and World Health Organization, explains how the politicisation of diseases such as AIDS distorts funding and harms the poor.
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| | » | ‘Romantic’ Aids cause diverts needed funds
Professor Karol Sikora, advisor to the British government and World Health Organization, explains how the politicisation of diseases such as AIDS distorts funding and harms the poor.
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| | » | It’s time to dismantle UNAids
Roger England explains why he is a candidate to be the new Executive Director of UNAIDS, calling for the constructive dismantling of the organisation.
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| | » | Trusting the African private sector with aid
Ahead of the G8 summit in Hokkaido, the usual merry-go-round is in process consisting of calls for greater aid, grandiose speaches, reports of failings, then further calls for even more aid. Fortunately the growing involvement of private sector organisations is providing hope for more efficient and effective health outcomes.
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| | » | Conceptualizing approaches to trading in health
The benefits of trade have for too long been driven away from healthcare by ring-fenced nationalised systems and vested interests. Now evidence suggests that trade can slow the rise in healthcare costs and be a valuable source of revenue for developing countries.
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| | » | AIDS fight drains health cash
Two medical experts have dared to challenge the long-held assumption that AIDS would eventually morph into a worldwide heterosexual epidemic.
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| | » | How surveys twist rankings on health care
Proponents of nationalised healthcare systems frequently refer to the WHO ranking the US system a lowly 37th in the world. Yet how reliable are these rankings? Glen Whitman reveals their faults and underlying, ideological bias.
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| | » | UN overstated Aids risk, says specialist
UNAIDS had systematically exaggerated the global scale of AIDS and promoted myths about a 'generalized' pandemic, claims leading expert Professor James Chin.
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| | » | Threat of world Aids pandemic among heterosexuals is over, report admits
Following Professor Jim Chin's exposure of the myths disseminated by UNAIDS, the World Health Organization has admitted that there is no threat of a global heterosexual pandemic.
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