Pathogens and Poor

For class we recently read a chapter in Paul Farmer’s Pathologies of Power that I feel fits into my topic of health care in globalization very well. I especially liked this chapter as well because it brought in some of the information that I am learning in my Microbiology classes.

Farmer made a point that all over the world the poor are sicker than the nonpoor. He brought up the fact that this is because they have more contact with pathogens and because they do not have the means to obtain the help that they need to stay healthy. As presented in my previous post on Nicaragua this is very true, but I believe that there are some other factors that play in as well, based on information I have obtained from other classes. I learned in my Microbiology class that there are various reasons why we get and stay sick. One is poor nutrition. If we are not receiving the right fuel for our bodies or enough of it the body starts to shut down certain systems. When you are malnourished your immune system is the first to go. Your body has to make the choice of running the organs you need to stay alive or the immune system, and that is why we need to eat a good balanced diet. For poor who do not have access to the types of food that your body needs to run effectively or even to food at all you can see the problem. They essentially have no immune system to keep them from getting sick and when they do get sick they aren’t receiving the nourishment they need to fight off the illness. Now some may say that all this may be true, but look at the United States. Many nonpoor eat poorly and you don’t see them dying prematurely to diseases. To them I say yes many nonpoor eat poorly but, these people have access to healthcare, which the poor do not, as Farmer points out. In addition to that many nonpoor are dying prematurely of diseases due to poor nutrition, but that is another topic.

Farmer states that poor come in contact with more disease. This I believe is very true. In my trips to South and Central America I have witnessed large families and sometimes more than one family sharing a single small living space. This is a perfect way for disease to spread. Many viruses and bacteria can be spread when a person coughs or sneezes releasing minute droplets of saliva that are carrying thousands of pathogens and are then inhaled by another individual. How are many people going to avoid getting sick when they are all sharing a single space? Nonpoor may be crowded into a single space and come into contact with pathogens, but again they also have the access to the care and nutrients they need to fight off disease.

Now as Farmer has pointed out in his book some doctors and nurses try and help solve the problem of access to healthcare for the poor by offering their services. One problem is that these endeavors are poorly funded and thus cannot reach as many people. In addition to this, as was the case in the look at Nicaragua, there are not enough of these people in the areas they are needed. Also, just giving poor medicine or a check up and sending them on their way is not going to be enough. Some diseases require months of treatment and you may feel better after a short time, but you are not. If someone is working just to survive and they start feeling better, why should they continue to take the measures they need to fully fight off the disease when they need to work to provide food and other necessities? I like what Farmer has to say for this. He sees health care as a work of social justice. That we need to help people in the situations they are in and work to help make theses situations better. If this means working with a small population at a time instead of solving the problem in one big sweep I think that it is worth it.

Works Cited:

Farmer, Paul. Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor : with a New Preface by the Author. Berkeley: University of California, 2005. Print.

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