“Tuberculosis (TB)
has been curable for more than 50 years, yet the global burden of morbidity and
mortality due to TB continues to increase, the impact being greatest in
sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately one-third of the world’s population is
infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
with nearly 9 million developing active TB and almost 2 million dying of TB
each year… Both globally and within countries, there is a striking link between
TB and poverty.”
I came
across this quote yesterday. In so many ways it exemplifies why I am passionate
about justice in healthcare. “9 million” is a staggering statistic, impossible
to really wrap our brains around. Then I think about the people in my clinic
every day. The older gentleman with the weight loss and chronic cough who I
have to refer to the hospital for further testing, wishing I had the resources
he needs; or the bony boy at our island mobile clinic, with dad who cares but
whose treatment options are limited. When I see them as people more than
numbers, no less made in the image of God than I am, everything in me yearns to see these people
receive the care they deserve.
(quote courtesy of Oxford
Handbook of Tropical Medicine, 3rd Edition.)
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