A public health topic that I find very interesting is cholera; a disease that causes diarrhea and can kill a person in a few hours if treatment is not received. Cholera spreads through unclean water and poor sanitation. According to the WHO, every year there are about 3-5 million cases of cholera and 100,000-120,000 resulting deaths. The WHO estimates that up 80% of the cases can be treated with oral rehydration salts. (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/index.html)
The most severe outbreaks of cholera occur after natural disasters and areas of unrest. The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the middle of civil unrest which has lead to a a serious contamination of the water and very rudimentary (to be polite) sanitation system. In January 2011 there were “at least 22,000 cases and 584 deaths”. (http://www.passporthealthusa.com/localvaccines/travel-health-alerts.php) However, data in areas like the DR Congo is very difficult to find and if there is data, it is most likely untrustworthy. If a country depends on tourism, the government is likely to under-report the number of cases. On the other hand if the government wants more money, they are likely to inflate the number of cases. Due to these issues I will have to focus on an area that has hard data – a country that has experienced a natural disaster that received a lot of aid.
In January 2010, Haiti experienced a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Like many other countries, the Haitian government seems to have tampered with some numbers. The Haitian government stated that about 316,000 people perished while USAID (US Agency for International Development) puts the death toll at 46,000-85,000. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13606720) In spite of this, statistics regarding Haiti are likely to be accurate than the DR Congo. As there were many governments and organizations were involved with the relief effort there should be a lot of reliable data on the situation.
One of the results of the earthquake was water contamination. Because of this water contamination, cholera was soon spread. I would like to study the outbreak of cholera in Haiti during 2010-2011 resulting from water contamination from the January 2010 earthquake.
As the numbers suggest, cholera is a very serious worldwide issue. Studying how an area that has dealt / is dealing with an outbreak of cholera (Haiti), may be applicable to other countries. In countries like the DR Congo, even a slight improvement in people’s lives brings an enormous social shift – people simply have more hope, which is crucial in the development process. As you might be able to tell, DR Congo holds a special place in my heart. According to aid workers and economists, DR Congo is an un-developing nation. (I was in Goma, DR Congo in the summer of 2010 on an aid trip and it must be one of the bleakest corners of the word.) The multi-decade civil unrest is slowly destroying everything that had been accomplished. Because of the dangers, many aid organizations have pulled out of DR Congo though a few are still there (including the UN). But DR Congo has essentially been left to its own devices. Even if the cholera prevention/intervention is unsuccessful, there may be a social impact. Hopefully, the Congolese will see the international effort and will no longer feel abandoned and alone.
Very interesting topic! I think it is very important to discuss cholera because in the U.S Cholera outbreaks just don't happen. The contamination problem is one that could be possibly contained and eradicated in Haiti if handled properly. The Haitian population is a really interesting case because of the recent natural disaster and I look forward to more of your research. Great topic!
ReplyDeleteKat,
ReplyDeleteThis looks like it will be a great topic to do your paper on. The magnitude of cholera throughout the world cannot be ignored, and public health should take enormous leaps at limiting the number of deaths that this disease takes each year, especially in children. I particularly found your example of Haiti interesting because I was in Haiti last summer and saw this destruction and health problems. I look forward to reading more about your topic and term paper.
Kat -
ReplyDeleteYou have a really fantastic topic! It sounds like you have a lot of experience with the Congo, and with cholera in that setting. It's such an important topic, and I am sorry that there's not enough information from that country to do a thorough job, but it is incredibly important to recognize those limitations. The cholera outbreak in Haiti has, as you said, a lot more information, though it still may be incomplete. That's all right - it will be enough and you can always state as one of your solutions the need to fill in certain information gaps.
What is your problem statement? Remember, you need a topic, place and time, all of which you have, but you cannot put causes into your problem statement. We can talk about it more today at lab. See you soon.
Great job on this blog! From the very first paragraph, you were really informative and I've definitely learned a lot that I had no idea about before. I agree with your idea to focus on a specific country that has been impacted by a natural disaster, and hope that you're able to find all the data you need for your paper. It looks like you're already using some really reliable sources, and that's a good way to start off. I also definitely agree that not just one country can or should benefit when they are able to fight a public health problem like this. Any way that outbreaks have been dealt with can be applicable somewhere else as well, and that's really fortunate, because then the solutions will be able to help people on a worldwide scale.
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