Why do diseases of poverty afflict more people in wealthy countries
than in the developing world?
In 2011, Dr. Peter J. Hotez relocated to Houston to launch Baylor's
National School of Tropical Medicine. He was shocked to discover that a
number of neglected diseases often associated with developing countries
were widespread in impoverished Texas communities. Despite the United
States' economic prowess and first-world status, an estimated 12 million
Americans living at the poverty level currently suffer from at least one
neglected tropical disease, or NTD. Hotez concluded that the world's
neglected diseases--which include tuberculosis, hookworm infection,
lymphatic filariasis, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis--are born first
and foremost of extreme poverty.
In this book, Hotez describes a new global paradigm known as "blue
marble health," through which he asserts that poor people living in
wealthy countries account for most of the world's poverty-related
illness. He explores the current state of neglected diseases in such
disparate countries as Mexico, South Korea, Argentina, Australia, the
United States, Japan, and Nigeria. By crafting public policy and relying
on global partnerships to control or eliminate some of the world's worst
poverty-related illnesses, Hotez believes, it is possible to eliminate
life-threatening disease while at the same time creating unprecedented
opportunities for science and diplomacy.
Clear, compassionate, and timely, Blue Marble Health is a must-read
for leaders in global health, tropical medicine, and international
development, along with anyone committed to helping the millions of
people who are caught in the desperate cycle of poverty and disease.
