Just like Lakshmi (and, I am sure, many others), my summer research efforts came with a hefty dose of frustration. The lab samples I needed weren’t ready, there was no backup, everyone seemed to be on vacation, and, try as I might, I could not get across that, no, we couldn’t just put things off until tomorrow because I only had so many tomorrows left. A few days in, I was already panicking that my summer would be a waste, and nearly regretting not staying in Baltimore. With all the logistical, political and cultural issues that can make it so difficult to do global health work, why do we insist upon going halfway across the globe, not knowing whether our efforts will be worthwhile at all?
For me, the answer came, at least in part, towards the end of my stay in Morocco. My initial project was to run genotyping assays for a study of TB transmission, but as the obstacles piled up, I applied the first cardinal rule of global health: be flexible!!! I decided to devote my time instead to the logistics and patient recruitment aspects of the study and got the opportunity to meet with a group of migrants living in northern Morocco as they awaited an opportunity to cross the straits to Europe. They were the lucky ones. That very same week, 12 people had died of thirst in the desert, trying to reach northern Africa and a passage to Europe. Having lived an undeniably privileged life, one in which my daily worries and fears are pretty much limited to staying on the “P” side of Pass/Fail and taming my recurrent cravings for Chipotle, I could not imagine the depths of despair in which these men and women must be to take such tremendous risks, entrusting their lives to strangers and fate as they cross borders, deserts and seas.
The tragedy of the lives lost everyday in the deserts of North Africa and Central America, on the seas that separate Third World from First, reminds of just how important it is that we keep working towards better standards of living and human dignity for all, starting with better health. It is true that health is inextricably linked to issues of poverty, education, etc…, but it remains a critical starting point because of the powerful effects that it has on every aspect of the lives of people and societies; at its worst, disease not only debilitates the mind and the body, but also erodes the capacity for hope. When the death of relatives, friends, and colleagues become a fact of daily life, hope simply cannot be sustained, and neither can dignity. Societies in which disease and death abound will accord less value to human life loses its value, leading to the kind of social neglect, repression, and human rights violations that are the daily bread of so many in this world.
How, then, can we not justify going to the other end of the world and sparring with as many bureaucrats and corrupt officials as it takes to bring some measure of improvement? Bringing better health to every corner of the world is a daunting challenge and it may seem at times that we are fighting alone and for little reward, but it is a challenge well worth facing. For at the end of the road, lies the chance to restore not only health, but hope.
