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.
Not everyone in the world can afford the new technology (treatment) that can save people's lives. However, doing something is better than doing nothing that if we can save at least one person by using household vinegar from cervical cancer. It is also important to pay more attentions to treatment that are used in developing countries, when everyone is focusing on new technology that are mostly used in developed countries.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about new and high-technology is that, with them, we can accomplish what was previously impossible. For example, it may provide treatment that comes with fewer risks and a greater success rate. As such, research into new technologies should not be stopped. But as you say, it’s not likely many can afford the best, most hi-tech treatment. Then, of course, we look to cheaper alternatives to solve our problems. The bottom line is, both are of great use but we still need to be wary in how we apply each system.
ReplyDeleteThis is a brilliant treatment method. As said in the article, this is by no means "poor care", since care is care no matter how you look at it. People seem to believe the more technology is involved, the better a procedure is, and this is often associated with higher costs. But it's important to dissociate technology with good care; if a treatment works, there is no reason to ignore it, especially if it's fairly effective and incredibly cheap compared to its alternatives. Technology is nice, and often lets us do things that only years ago we could only have dreamed of, but that's no reason to rely on shiny gadgets and only the latest treatments. So like Anthony said, each situation may have different results, so there's no reason to discard "poor care" if it works.
ReplyDeleteIt is advances like these that truly are bigger improvements in medicine than fancy technological advances. Simple solutions like these are things that save more lives than anything else. If we can continue to make advances such as these, we will improve developing countries health care systems by leaps and bounds, helping save millions of lives around the world. Simple solutions such as these are going to be what the future of medicine relies on.
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