8 - tropical disease

Rescuing the bottom billion through the  control of neglected diseases. Neglected tropical diseases enforce to poverty trap, the most severe diseases can last centuries and cause disability/disfigurement. When the poor contract diseases, they spread fast due to over crowding and are hard to get rid of due to lack of affordable medical care. Furthermore without a welfare support system many go hungry because they are unable to work.  Agricultural activity is reduced directly due to illness of the workers or forced migration due to high rates of endemic disease. the major endemic diseases are identified as a major barrier to the completion of MDG and so a major barrier to development.  Improving the state of countries affected by these major disease's especially in low income countries will depend on sustainable external financial assistance. estimates $2-3 billion is needed in the next 5-7 years in order to enact a 'sustained global assault' on the endemic diseases.

Conditions for a successful assault: disease control programs controlled by the state embedded into national health programs. Also the key role of WHO and other international organisations. Direct community interventions are particularly effective. community approach needs maintaining and to find its role in everyday medical care.

Unhealthy landscapes: policy recommendations of land use change and infectious disease emergence. Land use change has been tied to disease prevalence. can occur via 2 main ways, 1] spillover 2] cross contamination.

Deforestation: the removal of species rich ecosystems and replacement with species poor agricultural land. The habitat destruction also contributes to increased human-animal interactions that might have been very limited/non-existent in the past.The patchwork of species rich/poor land that remains also contributes to the increased interactions.cleared land collects rainwater - provides a perfect breeding ground for diseases such as malaria.left over patches have insufficient prey for top predators leading to localized predator extinction and subsequent prey explosion.Extraction industries like gold can result in harmful effects. E.G. mercury accumulation in fish populations, ingested by humans and resultant weakened immune systems.Irrigation can lead to waterlogged soil/environments - prime locations for mosquitoes.Zoonotic pathogens are transmitted from animals to humans, increased chance since livestock got big.

Hotez et al. 2009

Patz et al. 2004