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The economic divide and tuberculosis
Poverty and inequality at the root of tuberculosis epidemics
Authors: P.D. van Helden
Publisher: EMBO Reports, 2005
Full text of document
This article, published in EMBO Reports, examines the links between social inequality, poverty and tuberculosis (TB). It traces the history of tuberculosis and notes that the differences between previous epidemics and the current situation include the global extent of the problem, density of human population, globalisation and extensive population movements, and the HIV epidemic.
It describes how TB epidemics can increase in size rapidly, particularly in an environment where immune systems are suppressed due to HIV, poverty and malnutrition, such as in sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, in Zimbabwe in 1990, 100 people per 100,000 had had TB, but by 1996 this had increased to 300 per 100,000.
The article argues that medical intervention at the individual level will not solve the problem of TB. Instead there must be the political will to address the problems of poverty, inadequate health care and inequality.
Specific recommendations include differential drug pricing, on the basis of each country’s per capita income; and providing incentives to form partnerships such as the Global Alliance against Tuberculosis, to encourage companies and countries to control the disease and to develop new drugs and vaccines. Finally, the author argues that biomedical researchers need to strengthen their interaction with public health services.
Poverty and inequality at the root of tuberculosis epidemics
Authors: P.D. van Helden
Publisher: EMBO Reports, 2005
Full text of document
This article, published in EMBO Reports, examines the links between social inequality, poverty and tuberculosis (TB). It traces the history of tuberculosis and notes that the differences between previous epidemics and the current situation include the global extent of the problem, density of human population, globalisation and extensive population movements, and the HIV epidemic.
It describes how TB epidemics can increase in size rapidly, particularly in an environment where immune systems are suppressed due to HIV, poverty and malnutrition, such as in sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, in Zimbabwe in 1990, 100 people per 100,000 had had TB, but by 1996 this had increased to 300 per 100,000.
The article argues that medical intervention at the individual level will not solve the problem of TB. Instead there must be the political will to address the problems of poverty, inadequate health care and inequality.
Specific recommendations include differential drug pricing, on the basis of each country’s per capita income; and providing incentives to form partnerships such as the Global Alliance against Tuberculosis, to encourage companies and countries to control the disease and to develop new drugs and vaccines. Finally, the author argues that biomedical researchers need to strengthen their interaction with public health services.