Five Global Health Problems that are much worse than they sound

by Alanna Shaikh

Published January 08, 2009 @ 09:04PM PT

(image credit: jbcurio)

When I ask people about global health, they usually mention HIV or bird flu. Sometimes tuberculosis. But there are some really destructive problems that people hardly think about at all. Here are five:

1.       Diarrhea

In the developed world, diarrhea is an inconvenience. It's embarrassing and you probably have to go buy some Imodium. To children in the developing world, diarrhea is often a death sentence. Diarrhea and dehydration resulting from it kills more children under five than malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis combined. The worst part is that there is good treatment for diarrhea, if we can make it available - oral rehydration salts, and IV hydration if necessary.

2.       Respiratory infections

In a child who is already malnourished or sick, respiratory infections go from mild colds to pneumonia very quickly. Influenza is always dangerous for children. 20% of the children who die in the developing world die of respiratory infections; mostly from pneumonia.

3.       Measles

Measles shouldn't even be around anymore. We've got a vaccine that works, and measles is non-existent in wealthy countries. It's still hanging around the rest of the world, though, and killing children.  We are at least on the track to eradication. 750,000 people died of measles in 2000, and only 197,000 in 2007.

4.       Worms

There are lots of kinds of parasitic worms out there. Some are incredibly gross. Schistosomes and helminthes, however, are small worms. They don't look like much at all. But together, they affect a billion people. A billion.  Nine zeroes. And in those billion people, they make everything worse. They contribute to malnutrition, anemia, iodine deficiency, and vitamin A deficiency. The consequences include stunting, wasting, brain damage, and of course death. And yes, we do have effective treatment for worms. Single-dose treatment that requires no real expertise to administer.

5.       Iodine deficiency

When you're talking about iodine deficiency, goiters are the least of your problem. Iodine deficiency causes cognitive impairment, and not in a mild way. This doesn't mean a few points knocked off the IQ; more like 10-15 points. That will push an average person down into cognitively disability. Fifty-four countries have been classified by the World Health organization as iodine-deficient.

Nicholas Kristof wrote in the New York Times, "Occasionally in my travels I've been unnerved by coming across entire villages, in western China and elsewhere, eerily full of people with mental and physical handicaps, staggering about, unable to speak coherently. I now realize that the cause in some cases was probably iodine deficiency. "

Damage from iodine deficiency can't be cured, but it can be prevented. Iodized salt is the highest profile effort to do so.