Konzo Disease Summary

Katherine Dettwyler’s work in the field while she was in West Africa was exciting, filled with humor and even terrifying at times. She dealt with seeing various life-threatening diseases that affected the lives of children her daughter’s age, as well as adults. Dettwyler found that almost all of the people she came in contact with were completely oblivious and uninformed of the ways to prevent diseases such as malaria, Schistosomiasis, malnutrition and other infectious diseases unique to their region of the world. In her book, Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa (1994), Dettwyler discusses tons of the health problems she comes across, in

Children who are poor are most often born into poverty. Poverty is the lack of necessary needs in order to survive. Whether this be shelter, food, or water, most comes from a lack of cash flow through the family. Other situations can be divorces, children joining or being taken by rebel forces, parents passing away, or even situations of abuse. Statistics say that, “Around 55% of people live below the poverty line, living on less than a dollar each day. Areas with the greatest number of poor are particularly in the east of the country, where conflict continues”. With the majority of poor people living in the east, this also means that healthcare is worse there. When living conditions are not sanitary and there malnutrition, this causes people to become more susceptible to menial diseases. With all these factors taken into account, “The capital, Kinshasa, contains around 20-25,000 children who sleep rough and survive by begging”. Without means to help support these starving children, the country will continue to stay in this unproductive state; there needs to be a prevention of these preventable diseases killing the

The first issue that could be found in Matthew O’Brien is his statement that only poor people contract diseases. The main illness that the author associates with poverty is known as hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. The staff at Mayo Clinic, a group of medical professionals dedicated to studying diseases and teaching people about them defined hypoglycemia as “a condition characterized by an abnormally low level of blood sugar (glucose), your body’s main energy source.” They go on to state that “a variety of conditions, many of them rare, can cause low blood sugar in people without diabetes. Like fever, hypoglycemia isn’t a disease itself—it’s an indicator of a health problem.” It can be concluded that people cannot get

Illnesses, epidemics, and pandemics derive from the living conditions and the social stratification of a society. Poverty tends to increase an individual’s possibility of getting sick due to deficient housing conditions, malnutrition, pressure, etc. Research supports that impoverished individuals experience higher death rates due to the insufficient medical care and nutritious food available to them. “An estimated 25 million Americans do not have enough money to feed themselves adequately and, as a result, suffer from serious nutritional deficiencies that can lead to illness and death” (Tischler 383). In effect, this contributes to the overall high mortality rates among groups of social classes. Those that live in poverty experience high levels

People do not always die from starvation in a famine but they die from a weakened immune system. Researchers from the British Journal of Medicine find world food program who “argue that health issues cannot be separated from the food insecurity” which has been occurring since the 1990s (Zarocostas, 2010). For example, Barbara Demick outlines that chronic malnutrition causes an increase of susceptibility to diseases such as typhoid and tuberculosis. A notable statistic is the country’s “estimated tuberculosis incidence of 345/100,000 population is higher than in some countries with generalized HIV/AIDS epidemics” (Seung, 2013) . Also a result of malnutrition, the body is no longer able to metabolize antibiotics and malnutrition can cause strokes or heart attacks (Demick, 2009). The death rate then increases because these diseases are health issues which cannot be resolved with the lack of healthcare and

8) Disease has contributed to the poverty in many African countries, such as Zambia. This has occurred because the welfare of the people is low, therefore productivity is low, resulting in a poor

Imagine your child dying a few months after they are born because of the genes you passed down to them. This is possible with many genetic diseases; one such disease can be Krabbe disease. Krabbe disease changes many aspects of a diagnosed person’s life because of the troubling and debilitating side effects. Children with Krabbe disease might not be able to complete daily activities. This can affect not only the child but also the people around them.

The cause of bad health for millions of underprivileged population is poverty, thus poverty and poor health worldwide are inextricably interconnected. The causes of poor health are rooted in political, social and economic injustices. Poverty is both a cause and a result of poor health therefore it increases the chances of poor health. Communities are enslaved in poverty hence poor health is the end results of poor nutrition because the community can’t afford a balanced diet. Infectious and neglected tropical diseases kill and weaken millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people each year, for example, in Zambia children die from a preventable disease called malaria due to poverty.

Krabbe disease is a disorder in the nervous system in which the patient becomes unable to function correctly. This enzyme deficiency impairs the growth and maintenance of myelin, the protective covering around certain nerve cells that ensures the rapid transmission of nerve impulses. A large cell of a primary germ is found clustered together in the space between the skull and the brain causing it to destroy the cells. Although, this disease generally directed at infants it may also develop in an older child or adult.

The residents of Africa are suffering from preventable, treatable, and fatal diseases everyday at a higher rate compared to developed countries. The healthcare crisis in Africa is the primary cause of all these deaths, and includes inefficient healthcare systems. Consequently, African's inefficient healthcare systems results in poor delivery of care and a shortage of health professionals. The healthcare crisis in Africa is a current issue impacting the lives of many African's who don't have the same access to resources as developed countries such as the United States. These resources can save the lives of many African's dying of preventable and curable disease, and understanding why the African continent has little access to them

Poor health is a direct of effect of poverty, children with families with no money or that live in a country that cannot provide the right kind of services do not have access to adequate medical treatment, “Psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our nation’s children. Poverty impacts children within their various contexts at home, in school, and in their neighborhoods and communities”. If a child does not have the money it is impossible to get the necessary care that it needs, I witnessed this first hand: back when I lived in Africa I wasn’t much older than 3 or 4, I used to have a younger brother who got sick and it wasn’t even something very serious it was just a minor cold that could have been easily treated but thanks to lack of hospitals and the lack of money in our household the minor cold become very serious and I watched as my younger brother slowly died in my mother’s arms. Furthermore, the APA (the American psychological association) found that

Poverty for centuries has been a very severe issue that has troubled many nations while impeding economic developments and progress. Poverty stricken countries are majorly concentrated in the continents of Africa and Asia. Continents like the Americas and Europe have globally been recognized as been wealthier yet still many parts of these ostensible countries face massive cases of poverty. Most at times, countries with high populations owing to high birth rates face the most cases of poverty. The definition of poverty can be boundless in the sense that poverty entails so many subsections as it sometimes gets complicated to group everything under one umbrella. Society tends to focus more on the tangible aspects of poverty because many people associate poverty with lacking money and it makes sense because poverty in terms of lacking money is a major problem affecting almost every country in the world. Even though it is debatable that poverty can be physical, intellectual, spiritual and even emotional, it is best to talk about the lack of money and economic developments in this essay. With reference to the oxford English Dictionary, poverty is state of being extremely poor and the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. Reflecting on this definition given, I deduced that malnutrition and hunger can define poverty. In the light of this, I think poverty is lacking a comfortable place of shelter, being ill and not having access to a better

As our world settles for more poverty more and more complications are created, starting with the increasing death rate. As families get poor, it is difficult to sustain a livable life while taking care of others. They begin to die without adequate water and food, while bringing

The physiological problems related to poverty are impossible to cure without enough food. If poverty is a disease, proper medication can solve the problem and save millions. But poverty itself is the grass-root level reason behind physiological problems. When around half of the global population is facing threat from poverty, one can expect serious physiological problems. Similarly, death related to hunger originating from poverty is a serious problem among the third-world nations. One can see that children, women, and elderly citizens are totally exposed to poverty related physiological problems in general. To be specific, extreme poverty hinders millions from having enough food to sustain their lives. Here, food banks can play an important role in keeping millions away from the clutches of health problems. One can see that life is poor surroundings can result in several health problems. Besides, poverty hinders millions from having direct access to different innovative health programs and policies implemented by the WHO and similar international organizations. Similarly, health problems stun the growth of millions of children in the famine stricken nations. So, it is evident that physiological problems related to global poverty can ensnare millions within

Poverty is a massive issue today, it surrounds all of life’s experiences, and it impacts on the future for people everywhere, and on health everywhere in society. Poverty is not just related to unemployment or