Help us address the health needs of underserved communities in Africa
Africa has less than 15% of the world’s population but 25% percent of the global incidence of diseases, and only 3% of the global health force.
John will be traveling to Africa this summer with members of the Global Physicians Corp. These volunteers will address the health needs of underserved communities in Africa. 100% of all donations will go towards the efforts and medical supplies necessary for this purpose. All donations are greatly appreciated.
“No child should die from a preventable disease”
MALARIA
Malaria is the leading cause of death among African children under five years old, it represents 10 percent of Africa’s overall disease burden. Some 300–500 million people are infected with malaria each year—the majority in Africa—and 90 percent of deaths from malaria, a preventable and treatable disease, occur in Africa.
ENTERIC AND DIARRHEAL DISEASE
Enteric and diarrheal diseases kill nearly 1 million children under age 5 each year, primarily in the developing world.
These diseases can also cause malnutrition, which can lead to stunted growth and impaired cognitive development as well as other long-term health problems
Vaccines are a cost-effective way to protect infants from infection by specific pathogens and, together with other combinations of approaches, including improved water quality, sanitation, and hygiene interventions such as oral rehydration therapy and micronutrient supplements, protect children and prevent deaths from enteric diseases.
Neglected Tropical Diseases
While HIV, TB, and Malaria have garnered a lion’s share of international attention, the world has missed major opportunities to fight a set of diseases that affect almost exclusively the world’s poorest populations. The category of “neglected tropical diseases” includes vector-borne protozoan infections, bacterial infections, and parasitic worms. While these diseases may cause fewer deaths than HIV, TB, and malaria, an estimated 1 billion people worldwide (most in Africa) suffer from one or more of these diseases. Some are fatal; others leave victims blind or with physical deformities, stunt intellectual and physical growth among children, undermine productivity, and affect pregnancy outcomes.
Family Planning and Maternal Health.
Africa has a tremendous unmet need for family planning education, access to contraceptives, programs to empower women and their partners to manage fertility and family size, and effective outreach to pregnant women. Programs to address these issues are vastly underfunded. Maternal death in childbirth is a silent epidemic in Africa, and the past decade, for all the new attention on public health in Africa, has seen little change in maternal death rates. One in seven women in Niger will ultimately die of pregnancy-related causes; in Sierra Leone, one in eight women giving birth will die. Rates such as these in Sierra Leone and Niger emphasize the need for even the most rudimentary steps to strengthen health systems and enable women to overcome cost, transport, and social obstacles to accessing care.