Shots and Pills

Now I know how the cows on the ranch feel when we poke them with needles... ouch!

Wow, I was in for a little surprise about what I needed for vaccinations and pills today at the UNL Health Center. After purchasing my tickets from Executive Travel and being bugged about seeing the doctor by my WasteCap colleagues, I decided better now vs. later for being poked with needles.

Szuhua, my doctor, had packets of information about everything I could encounter disease wise and a variety of cost effective paths for becoming vaccinated. After reading through my stack of papers and reviewing my treatment options I said, "I read today Malaria kills 3,000 people a day, when it seems to be treatable."

Suhua said, "Yes. It’s a horrible story. I have to take these pills when I go home to my home country." Szuhua is from Vietnam. "We are so lucky in the states."

Consider these facts [http://www.nothingbutnets.net/malaria-kills/]:

*Every 30 seconds in Africa a child dies of malaria."
*In addition to the health burden, malaria illness and death cost Africa about $12 billion per year.

...............

What is sad to me, is realizing how lucky I am to be treated for preventable diseases while much of the world struggles to even see doctors let alone receive vaccines. Not only can I be treated, but it is cost effective for myself to do so, while this is not the case for many millions of people in Africa.

It was rather easy for me to call up UNL, swipe my ATM card, and walk out with the medications I need to keep myself healthy and functioning. I kept thinking about the individuals in Africa while I was in the waiting room, who have to decide about how many children to educate, vaccinate if doable, and feed when they have strict economic budgets.

One treatment plan for Malaria was going to cost me 500 dollars for my whole 6 months, while doxy will only cost me 40 dollars. I understand from my doctor, the doxy treatment is used widely in the developing world, but has side effects the more expensive varieties do not possess.

I'll be pouring on the sunscreen, buying a mosquito net, and maybe purchasing sprays I can use on my clothing that last up to 6 washes. My Malaria pills will make it easier for me to sun burn, but I'll have a good month working on the ranch where I can build up my tan a little bit before I start this pill treatment. I'm not too worried about coming down with Malaria and if I do, there is a good chance I'll survive because I'm already being treated. Many are not so lucky.

Basically, Malaria is a protozoan disease transmitted by a certain mosquito [anopheles] and is a large problem in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Luckily, grasslands will surround me along with hot deserts where this is not a good breeding ground for the disease. The Malaria maps show most of Namibia to be relatively free of Malaria infections. Just across the neighboring countries' borders, this is not the case.

The death toll of Malaria alone in Africa is three million per year and predominately hits children. [Sachs] I'm not sure what the rates are in Namibia, but I will find them.

A strong theme with many of these diseases sadly -they're highly treatable. What worries me is how little problems like this multiply into large issues contributing to global instability and do not attract the attention they need presently.

"Malaria accounts for up to half of all hospital admissions and outpatient visits in Africa. In addition to the burden on the health system, malaria illness and death cost Africa approximately $12 billion a year in lost productivity. The effects permeate almost every sector. Malaria increases school absenteeism, decreases tourism, inhibits foreign investment, and even affects the type of crops that are grown." [http://www.nothingbutnets.net/malaria-kills/]

I agree with many other scientists and professors when they say we have sleeping problems like poverty and climate change that do not receive the attention they need, and both will contribute to even more instability and breed more violence if nothing is done. What a large challenge we face.

Further, it will be ever so important for organizations and nation/states to link development with agriculture, medical, and energy to fight climate and poverty into one multifaceted action. Being able to treat diseases so people can work and go to school, while having access to local food is ever more critical to begin dealing with poverty.

The global recessions we're seeing now make it even worse for the poor. Industries shut down and incomes from African family members working in the Middle East, Europe, and China evaporate too. When one totally relies on income from an oil field and weaker economies demand less we see prices drop, revenues decrease, and people are laid off. How does someone in this situation buy food?

Many rely on local markets and have little agriculture infrastructure. If more agriculture were in place, the impacts from the recession would probably be much less and more a distribution issue. I challenge everyone to think about connecting the issues when dealing with these problems.

I'm reading two books by Jeffrey Sachs, "Common Wealth" and "The End of Poverty" and what timely reads before I go to Africa. I happened to stumble across a few sections talking about these diseases while waiting to see the doctor.

Here are some interesting thoughts from one of the books.

Dr. Sachs [Columbia University] writes in his book "The End of Poverty," "Terrorism is not the only threat that the world faces. It would be a huge mistake to direct all our energies, efforts, resources, and lives to the fight against terrorism while leaving vast and even greater challenges aside. Almost three thousand people died needlessly and tragically at the World Trade Center on September11; then thousand Africans die needlessly and tragically every single day -and have died every single day since September 11 -of AIDS, TB, and malaria. We need to keep September 11 in perspective, especially because the ten thousand daily deaths are preventable."

Back of the envelope number crunching [8 years] places the total death toll since 2001 in Africa to be around 29,200,000 people since 9/11/01. I can't begin to understand the weight of this figure... As tragic as 9/11 and other events have been in our world history, numbers of these magnitudes on top of climate change and other issues, can no doubt pose even larger problems for future stability.

I'm just beginning to understand these issues and the disease ecology behind these diseases in Africa. The human capital costs of these kinds of losses are crippling and poverty will just keep recycling when one cannot assume healthy people can exist.

Sadly, it seems Africa has a "perfect storm" of conditions that breed certain diseases, but it will be interesting to see what else can be done by listening to people who deal with these diseases on a daily basis in Namibia and other places.

I can't begin to understand the issue, but tonight my arm pain is a constant reminder I should try to learn more. But I now have polio, hep A, malaria, and typhoid vaccinations. My arm hurts, but I guess it’s the price you pay. I'm good to travel in Namibia and Botswana.

A.E. Price