What if tropical diseases got same attention as COVID?
The COVID-19 disease or coronavirus infection SARS-CoV-2 has gotten more attention from the public, healthcare providers, and researchers than any other viral disease of the world. This is because COVID-19 is a new age disease, that not only has the whole world’s media attention but also the attention of the governments due to falling economic conditions. The speed at which the world has moved regarding the COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests has never been seen before. This has left many to wonder, what would happen if the same amount of efforts are put in to improve the lives of billions that are affected by tropical diseases that are regularly ignored. If tropical diseases got the same attention as COVID-19, healthcare will considerably be improved to a great extent.
Tropical disorders affect those who live in severe poverty. There are no vaccinations, minimal medical technologies, and medications can be harmful, inadequate, or just too costly for many of these deadly and crippling illnesses. Frontline doctors have had to deal with insufficient resources and a lack of instruments for health. At the virtual 73rd World Health Assembly earlier this month, World Health Organization member states took a bold move in combating 20 neglected tropical diseases by endorsing a proposed 'road map' for the next decade. Building on the first WHO roadmap for neglected tropical diseases released in 2012, the latest one sets goals for 2030 that include the removal of at least one neglected tropical disease in 100 countries and a 90 percent reduction in the number of individuals seeking medical care.
The burden of disease in developing countries may be seen as a burden, but it also poses research opportunities and challenges, practical and altruistic intervention, and environmental awareness. Of the classical parasitic diseases, ten are included in the world's top 100 global diseases. In Africa, with much fewer resources available, the burden of tropical diseases is far higher. The diseases of infection are combined with the diseases of poverty. High fertility, sluggish economic development, deforestation, rapid urbanization, and increased migration lead to the recent changes observed in developing countries in the transmission and distribution of diseases. The burden of diseases remains huge in tropical and developing countries. New parasitological techniques and lines of study in particular molecular and scientific methods for investigating and controlling tropical diseases will contribute to reducing the burden of disease, while at the same time providing a better understanding of parasites and their interactions with their hosts.
