Neglected-Disease Research Funding Hits Record High (nature.com) 37
Reader schwit1 shares a report: Research funding for diseases that predominantly affect people living in poverty hit a record high in 2017, according to a report released on 23 January by Policy Cures Research, a global-health think tank in Sydney, Australia. At US$3.6 billion, investments into 'neglected' diseases were higher than in any year since 2007. A surge from 2016 to 2017 included a rise in funding to fight neglected diseases generally, as opposed to targeting individual maladies.
Anna Doubell, director of research at Policy Cures Research, says that the launch of several trials testing new Ebola drugs, diagnostics and vaccines in response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 might be giving donors hope that investments into neglected diseases pay off. "The amount of progress made in a short period of time after the Ebola outbreak might have brought in optimism about what is possible," Doubell says.
Anna Doubell, director of research at Policy Cures Research, says that the launch of several trials testing new Ebola drugs, diagnostics and vaccines in response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 might be giving donors hope that investments into neglected diseases pay off. "The amount of progress made in a short period of time after the Ebola outbreak might have brought in optimism about what is possible," Doubell says.
Most of this research gets done by the gov't (Score:2)
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Don't post anymore, thanks.
Goodbye, Roger Stone. (Score:1)
"Infantile unemployed Fox-uneducated moron discovers the word 'leftist,' runs with it like small dog with rope. News at 11 after our in-flight movie, 'There's something about Putin'"
I stand corrected :) (Score:2)
Now if we can only take back the $750 million dollar subsidy to an already profitable company...
self preservation (Score:1)
when your faced with a deadly virus self preservation becomes foremost.
I'd guess that some challanges are easier (Score:2)
Getting rid of diseases born by mosquitoes and creating proper sanitation (clean water is great too) would clear up all the malaria and cholera deaths for a start.
Re:I'd guess that some challanges are easier (Score:4, Informative)
An ebola outbreak can be stopped dead in its tracks with soap and hand sanitizer.
I support medical research, but poor countries mostly need education and better public health measures.
Clean water makes a huge difference. But electricity makes a huge difference too. Electric cooking and lighting removes soot from indoor air, relieving respiratory problems, allows students to read and study later, and saves money that people otherwise spent on fuel. Electric pumps make the clean water easier to achieve.
Decentralized electricity based on solar panels is making a big difference in poor countries.
It's a scarily low number (Score:3)
According to the graph, the number jumps up and down a bit but does not have a clear trend. Considering how many people are affected and have their lives and their chances to contribute to society ruined by these diseases, it is a very low number. The EU alone spends 30 times that on agricultural subsidies, with unclear benefits.
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The benefits become instantly clear when you compare the name of the main recipients with the name of politicians.
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Diseases also don't care about borders. Or whether you're rich or poor when you get into contact with it.
That's why there's research in them.
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Diseases also don't care about borders. Or whether you're rich or poor when you get into contact with it.
That's not really true. If you are rich, you are much less likely to come in contact with many of these diseases in the first place. Part of the misunderstanding is what being rich means.
Do you sleep on a dirt floor that might harbor diseases?
Do you cook over an open wood fire that releases toxic gases?
Does your home lack proper doors and windows making it constantly infested with rodents and insects?
Is your water contaminated with human waste?
Do you come in contact with human waste on a regular ba
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While true, the problem remains that being rich around here still means you outlive someone being poor around here by almost a decade [independent.co.uk]. Of course, if you compare it to hellholes with an infrastructure we have surpassed a century ago, you will find there the life expectancy we had a century ago. That's a given.
But we also have a gap here. Where we claim to be developed and have the relevant infrastructure in place.
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AFAIK Ebola didn't care much how much money you had in the countries it hit.
Yes it does. Ebola hits the poor much harder. Rich people are generally literate, understand the germ theory of disease, have cell phones, and own soap. They quickly learn how the disease spreads, and then wash their hands so they don't get it. It took much longer to convince the poor to practice basic sanitation.
The 2014 outbreak started in the Guinea highlands, and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone, which all have very low literacy rates. It did not spread to Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, or any other co
Alternative Solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Despite there being no cure for Ebola, there's an 82% survival rate for cases in the United States. In Africa, the survival rate is only 50%, and the disease spreads much more rapidly.
You'd be surprised how many diseases can be prevented with basic hygiene practices, and how many diseases can be treated with basic drugs.
Plumbers save more lives than doctors. Don't take them for granted.
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Plumbers save more lives than doctors. Don't take them for granted.
I like that quote. And very true.
In construction, the most important things are where the water comes from and where it goes when you're done with it. Everything else is secondary.
The patient has flatlined! Nurse, get me a pipe wrench!!
Bah, humbug (Score:2)
There's usually good reason that "neglected" diseases are neglected. It can be because they are incredibly rare, or as with the more common ones, that they proliferate because of factors not related to the disease.
Ebola is a case of "stupidity". An infection in the western world would be (and has on multiple occasions been) dealt with quickly and effectively by simple safety precautions. This is why doctors and nurses rarely get sick when working in the epidemic area. Isolation and basic sanitary procedures