With no access to clean water, hunger causing lowered immune systems, poor hygiene and sanitation practices, lack of education about how to prevent getting sick or the spread of disease - people are going to get sick...lots of them. This is a huge problem on its own but what happens if, when you get sick, you can’t afford medical treatment or medicine? What if there is no medical clinic in your community and you have to walk for hours to get help, or there are no nurses in your community because they have been claimed by HIV or no one can afford to pay them? Millions of people every year are getting sick and there is nothing they can do except wait and hope they make it. Millions don’t. The life expectancy in many developing countries is under 50. Children are at greatest risk and in some countries many don’t live past their 5th birthday. Most of these deaths are preventable!
What the cause is about:
AccessMany poor rural communities don’t have access to medical care. They have to travel long distances to get help and don’t always have access to transportation making the trip extremely difficult, especially when sick. |
EconomicEven if there are medical services close by, many families can’t afford treatment or medicine. Close to 2.7 billion people worldwide live on less than $2 a day making it almost impossible to get medical help when they need it. Children die every day from things like diarrhea, infections, and fever. The poor often go hungry and are undernourished which lowers their immune systems and prevents them from fighting disease. |
EducationA lack of education and knowledge about basic sanitation and hygiene allows for sickness to continue crippling poor communities. Simple things like hand washing drastically reduce disease in poor communities. Uneducated mothers often lack the knowledge they need to care for their sick children or to prevent them from getting sick in the first place. |
Clean WaterDrinking dirty water infested with bacteria and parasites causes widespread sickness in communities that lack clean water. Many hospitals in developing countries don’t have clean water, making it very difficult to care for the sick. Without clean water for washing and drinking there will always be widespread disease. |
VaccinationIn the West we have learned how to prevent and cure diseases like tuberculosis, polio, tetanus, and diphtheria but tuberculosis alone still kills close to 1.5 million people each year. Vaccines for many of these diseases cost less than $1 and are easy to administer. Even then, many can’t afford vaccinations and leave themselves open for infections, many of which will be fatal. |
ProductivityIf you are sick all the time because you don’t have clean water then you won’t be able to go to school. If your family depends on you to work to feed the family and you are not able to because you are sick then your family struggles. If you are a mother and spend much of your time caring for sick children this takes you away from being able to provide for your family. When people die from preventable causes the community looses valuable contributing members. |
AccessBuilding medical clinics and hospitals in communities that don’t have them and ensuring they are stocked and staffed brings great promise for that community. |
WaterProviding clean safe water for a community and for hospitals and clinics you greatly reduce sickness in that community and better equip them to care for the sick. Water brings great hope for a better future without death from preventable causes. |
EducationImplementing sanitation and hygiene training greatly reduces disease in a community and empowers people to take control of their situation. Making sure children (especially girls) get a quality primary education gives them the tools to prevent themselves from getting sick and equips them to better care for their family when sickness strikes. |
Economic DevelopmentProviding opportunities for community members to generate more income allows them to pay for necessary vaccinations, get treatment when needed, buy mosquito nets to prevent malaria, pay for medicine and send their kids to school. All this reduces sickness and brings great hope for a bright future. |
VaccinationImplementing cost effective or free vaccination programs in poor communities goes a long way in reducing death rates and giving hope to those communities. |
Doing all of these things together will dramatically reduce disease and preventable deaths and build the confidence of a community and equip them with hope and health as they work their way to a better existence. When this happens, people live longer happier lives, and are able to grow and develop their potential and contribute to society.
+ One Campaign ‘Infectious Diseases’ report
+ Global Health Observatory reports from the World Health Organiztion