This is a guest post by David Van Sickle of GlobalHealthIdeas – a global health blog focused on solutions, problem solving and finding the latest innovations
I’m currently in the United Arab Emirates, attending a conference sponsored by the UAEU in Al-Ain to raise awareness of global health problems in the Middle East and neighboring Asia, and to draw attention to the region and its populations and health problems among the global health community. As a result, I’ve been thinking about the scope of attention in global health, and about populations and settings that are, for some reason, out of focus right now; one group in particular has come to mind.
This group is among the poorest in their country. Just under one in three lives in poverty (more than twice the overall rate).
- They have, on average, the lowest per capita income, earning less than half the average income of the general population.
- Nearly a quarter of their households are food insecure and as much as half of the population is unemployed.
Their families inhabit some of the most substandard housing in their country.
- Nearly 40 percent of households are without electricity.
- More than 30 percent lack a safe and adequate water supply and waste disposal system.
- Households are often crowded. The risk of death from tuberculosis is 600 percent higher compared to the general population.
Populations are often geographically isolated, living many miles from communities, employment and health care facilities.
- More than 60 percent of households have no landline telephone with most individuals relying on cell phones for routine communications.
- Migration to distant urban centers for employment is growing.
Overall the group experiences a major mortality disadvantage and significant burden of chronic diseases.
- The group shoulders considerable decrements in life expectancy and significantly higher rates of infant and maternal mortality.
- They suffer from increasingly high rates of debilitating chronic diseases tied to negative social and economic determinants of health.
Given this set of circumstances, I have long expected that the attention of the global health community would land on this group. The problems are compelling and the potential value of existing and promising social and technological interventions are obvious. For example, with widespread access to mobile phones networks, mobile phones could be used to deliver education, raise incomes, or improve health and health care. There are a host of applicable technological interventions that could mitigate poor housing or provide electricity.
Yet, very few academic or applied global health organizations include the group in their research focus or activities. I’m ready to see global health efforts applied to aid Native Americans.
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