The prevention and cure of infectious diseases

The prevention and cure of infectious diseases



The prevention and cure of infectious diseases

Infectious disease prevention in developing countries

International efforts are under way to respond to the threat of emerging infectious diseases in developing countries. WHO and CDC have drafted action plans that stress the need to strengthen global surveillance of these diseases and to allow the international community to anticipate, recognize, control, and prevent them. (Kremer, M. 2002, 63-86)

Infectious disease can be considered an international public good

HIV infection was not apparent in South Africa until around 1988 when endogenous cases began to emerge. The first reported cases occurred predominantly in homosexual men who had sexual contacts in the United States; in one early case, the patient presumably had heterosexual contact with a sex worker in Central Africa when the disease was first discovered there. The incidence of HIV infection among pregnant African women in South Africa in 1990 was 0.4%. The number of infected persons has doubled at approximately 9-month intervals until now when approximately 20% of adult African men and women are infected in the northern and eastern parts of the country. This number declines to less than 10% in the south, but HIV, although delayed with reference to the rest of Africa, has had and will have a staggering impact on emerging infectious diseases in South Africa. No specific diseases peculiar to South Africa have been found to be associated with HIV infection; major opportunistic infections include TB, cryptococcal disease, cytomegalovirus infections, bacterial diseases such as pneumococcal or salmonella bacteremia, and toxoplasmosis. (Kremer, M. 2002, 63-86)

WHO has also established a new unit to control and prevent emerging infections in developing countries by mobilizing resources rapidly at the first signs of outbreaks. The Pan American Health Organization has also adopted a regional plan for controlling emerging infections in the Americas . Health authorities from Central American countries have adopted an emergency plan to control the epidemics of dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever that recently swept through Central and South America . Physicians in the European Union recognize the need for better surveillance of infectious diseases. A U.S. government interagency working group has underlined the importance of international cooperation in dealing with the emerging infections threat. The U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee held hearings in October 1995 on “Emerging Infections: A Significant Threat to the Health of the Nation”. At the Halifax Summit in 1995, the major industrialized countries adopted a pilot project called “Toward a Global Health Network” designed to help governments deal with emerging infections and other health problems. Clearly, the emerging infections threat and the need for action are on the international diplomatic and public health agendas.(Kremer, M. 2002, 63-86)

constraints and Third world countries and potential policy

In public health, a similar combination of old and new factors can be seen. States have historically cooperated on infectious disease control, first through international sanitary treaties and later through the World Health Organization ...