Health a Key to Prosperity - Success Stories in Developing Countries

- from the Preface
It is Possible to Control Infectious Diseases in Poor Countries?

The evidence is clear. Infectious diseases can be controlled in the world's poorest countries. Throughout the world, communities have mobilized to use their knowledge, skills, and resources to reverse the devastating impact of killer diseases such as AIDS, TB, malaria, and diseases that kill children, infants, and mothers.

Uganda, Thailand, and Senegal are all national success stories in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Over a million lives have been spared from TB in the past decade due to the success of TB control efforts in countries such as China, India, Nepal, and Peru. Malaria has been turned back in Azerbaijan and Viet Nam and reduced in some parts of Kenya and Ethiopia. Childhood deaths and disability have been reduced in Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Malawi, Mexico, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Thailand. And maternal deaths have been reduced in a number of countries, including Sri Lanka.

Yet many of these achievements remain invisible and unrecognized by the world at large. As a result, many people remain sceptical about the possibility of controlling disease in poor countries. As this report shows, such fatalism is no longer scientifically defensible. Over the coming decade, it is possible to make huge gains against the major infectious diseases which have a disproportionate impact on the health and well-being of the poor.

Effective Tools are Available

It is estimated that as many as one in two malaria deaths can be prevented if people have ready access to rapid diagnosis and prompt treatment with antimalarial drugs --often costing no more than US$ 0.12 for a course of treatment. Meanwhile, 25% of child deaths can be prevented if children sleep under insecticide-treated bednets at night to avoid mosquito bites. Yet in Africa, where an insecticide-treated bednet could be provided for as little as US$ 4, only an estimated 1% of children sleep under bednets.

Millions of lives can be saved, and the threat of antimicrobial resistance reduced, if people with TB have access to DOTS, a 5-pronged strategy for TB control. And millions of new cases of HIV can be prevented through well-targeted, low-cost HIV prevention and care strategies. More widespread use of low-cost vaccines, vitamin A supplements, oral rehydration salts, and inexpensive antibiotics to treat pneumonia could prevent millions of child deaths. And a package for the Integrated Management of Pregnancy and Childbirth, ensuring good health care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, together with family planning, could prevent maternal and perinatal deaths as well as the lifelong disabilities due to complications of pregnancy -- for as little as US$ 3 a year per capita...

Contents:

• HIV/AIDS
  -Thailand achieves sustained reduction in HIV infection rates
  -Uganda reverses the tide of HIV/AIDS
  -Senegal contains the spread of HIV
  
• Tuberculosis
  -Peru set to halve new TB cases every 10 years
  -China halves TB deaths through DOTS
  -DOTS coverage & treatment success rate soars in India
  -Preventing TB deaths in one of the world's poorest countries
• Malaria
  -Viet Nam reduces malaria dealth toll by 97% within five years
  -Public-private partnerships in Azerbaijan helps reverse malaria epidemic
  -Home as the first hospital
  -Employer-based bednets scheme prevents malaria among workers in Kenya
• Childhood Diseases
  -Mexico reduces childhood deaths from diarrhoeal disease
  -Pakistan acts to reduce child dealth from pneumonia
  -Malawi on course to eliminate measles
  -Tanzania prevents iron-deficiency anemia in mothers & children in Zanzibar
  -Brazil widens access to health care
  -Bamako Initiative revitalizes primary health care in Benin
• Maternal & Perinatal Conditions
  -Sri Lanka reduces maternal deaths
  -Mekong countries join hands in preventing HIV transmission to children
  -Bangladesh reduces neonatal tetanus rates by 90%