How Vinegar Saves Women

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/health/27cancer.html?_r=4&ref=science

In decades past, cervical cancer came into the spotlight as the number one killer for women. However, as richer countries did their research, they developed Pap smears and women get them routinely to make sure they catch it early, making it more treatable. But what about their poorer counterparts? How were their lagging incomes going to pay for such technology? This article brings to attention the ingenuity of researchers, because now household vinegar can be brushed onto a woman's cervix, and the cancerous spots will turn white, allowing doctors to be able to easily spot and freeze off the cancerous cells with carbon dioxide chilled metal probe. This is very efficient, and more importantly, inexpensive. 

Just because these treatments seem rudimentary, does not mean they should be looked down upon. As Dr. Wachara Eamratsameekool says, it's not "poor care for poor people," it's simply the most effective usage of their resources. Because researchers have realized that clearly, developing and undeveloped countries are very far behind us, but still need help even more than we do, they have started to look for help in places where they would not look before. Who would have thought that your simply household vinegar could decrease the chances of 8 million poor women developing cervical cancer by more than 65%? Our resources to help have not been exhausted in the slightest. However, if we constantly look to newer and more expensive technology to save and cure people, how can we expect to help the people who need it most? Resources need to be put into research projects like the one that discovered this treatment. It makes it not only more affordable to those who need it most, but also easier to create and distribute. While it may not be possible to eradicate disease in our lifetime, we have a whole low-tech range of possibilities we have yet to extensively explore. We can save countless lives and still contribute resources to research of high tech solutions.

A Possible End to HIV?

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/09/gene-therapy-may-thwart-hiv.html?rss=1

Timothy Brown, the first man to be cured of HIV, has driven scientists to find an effective way to end HIV. He was cured when he was diagnosed with HIV and received a bone marrow transplant from a donor who had defective CCR5 receptors on his T-cells, the receptors that HIV uses to infiltrate cells. Soon after, the HIV in his body started to decline. Scientists have tried to apply the same concept in very small clinical trials with minor success, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

While this is a small success in the battle against HIV, it also brings to attention a very large issue in healthcare: money. Even if this gene therapy were to be at a stage where it could be used outside of clinical trials, it's still technologically advanced and expensive. HIV has hit Africa the hardest, but Africa also has the poorest countries in the world. There is no way that this gene therapy could be supplied to the people who need it most. As we have discussed, the poor need this technology significantly more than the rich, yet they suffer even more without it. While the relatively well off at least have anti-retroviral medication to slow down the effects, the poor have nothing to use. When we applaud such discoveries, research, and advancements, we also have to keep in mind the people we end up helping, and those who we still are not bringing help to. We don't realize that although there is a big accomplishment here, many, many more are still suffering.

Eastern Europe's Tuberculosis Crisis

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)61428-1/fulltext

A big problem that's been hitting developed countries recently is the rise drug-resistant strains of previously treatable diseases. Due to the overwhelming numbers of unnecessary antibiotics being prescribed to the public, we have selected for drug-resistant bacteria and viruses. Much of Eastern Europe is still developing and due to their lack of solid healthcare and infrastructure, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is on the rise.

This is another example of how weak country infrastructures prevent proper healthcare. Eastern Europe's case is different than Haiti's, though. Their predicament is not due to inability to get aid everywhere, but that people do not seek aid at their local hospitals. Their programs are also failing to screen and detect cases of tuberculosis in vulnerable population. Because of the inadequate system they have in place, those who seek help are not well educated about things like antibiotics. Not using antibiotics to full term selects for these multi-drug resistant strains, creating Europe's fear that multi-drug resistant tuberculosis will become a huge problem all across Europe. Another reason for Eastern Europe's lacking programs is due to their inability to fund the programs to properly educate, detect, and effectively cure cases of tuberculosis.

Haiti's Cholera Outbreak

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/05/2391890/haiti-cholera-epidemic-as.html#ixzz1XHbNbKsL

Cholera is a deadly epidemic striking Haiti, however, aid groups are starting to leave Haiti without the outbreak being completely eliminating the threat. The problem here is that Haiti's terrain, in addition to the inaccessibility of those who need the most help, make it very difficult for aid groups to get supplies where they need to go. The issue behind this cholera epidemic is that Haiti has not even started industrializing and developing. Like many undeveloped countries, it has few roads and many rural communities that are isolated. There is hardly any way to efficiently save those in Haiti if help can't get to them easily.
Cholera kills fast and moves fast as well. With no widespread road system paved over the rocky terrain, there is no way to help. The issue to think about here is whether or not sacrificing three, four, five generations of people is worth it to industrialize and make the country easier to live in. It would be near impossible to evenly split funds between helping the sick and moving the country forward economically.

These poor sub-Saharan African workers are trapped in Libya because rebels have looted everything they own and have taken their papers. They live in constant fear and stress which has resulted in an array of medical problems, in addition to their medical problems from terrible living conditions. They barely have any food and are barely getting aid, as very few are willing to go into such a violent area. It is definitely important that they get clean water and food first, so that they will survive until medical aid comes to help with their physical ailments.
This situation is a sad byproduct of the fact that sub-Saharan Africa has yet to be able to industrialize and provide for its people. With little hope to progress in the near future in the areas of clean water, proper medical care, education and so on, the people of sub-Saharan Africa move to more prosperous parts in order to try and find a better future for their families. Innocent citizens are suffering only because they tried to find a better life.