Recent news
January 2011
Reducing global poverty ‘must go hand in hand with science,’ letter to the editor says
January 19, 2011 -- Poverty is “perhaps the most important and cross-cutting risk factor” for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), Peter Hotez, president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), and ASTMH executive director Karen A. Goraleski, write in a Washington Post letter to the editor. They add, “It is the global poor who are disproportionately afflicted by these diseases. Many NTDs, such as malaria and dengue, flourish where there is inadequate sanitation and poor standards of living.”
According to the authors, the “correlation between poor health and poverty is a vicious cycle: Poverty causes poor health and poor health impairs worker productivity, causing poverty and destabilizing local and global economies.” They conclude, “If we are going to make sustained headway in improving health worldwide, working to reduce poverty must go hand in hand with science.” See the link below for further information.
