Water, Water Everywhere, Except Where There’s Disease

I spent the summer in India during the peak of monsoon, the rainy season. Everywhere I went were signs like, “know your Lepto,” or “how to identify dengue before it identifies you.” I jest, but seriously. The rains, anxiously awaited by millions across the subcontinent, represent growth, fertility, the harvest, and, unfortunately, disease.  In an economy that is as much agrarian as IT, and as dependent on weather as independent of time zone, monsoons are a blessing and a public health curse. Malaria incidence, too, was unprecedented this year, with public hospitals erecting overflow tents just to accommodate the hordes of patients flooding their grounds.

The flood has left 20 million homeless, and more than half a million suffering from waterborne and other diseases.

And this was just in areas of “normal,” seasonal rain. Imagine the situation in Pakistan. The floods have been catastrophic, not only for the devastation they have wrought, but also for the illness they bring. Diarrheal diseases have already claimed thousands of lives, and skin and respiratory illnesses follow closely. Waterborne diseases such as typhoid, jaundice, and diarrhea are particularly virulent, but higher incidence of H1N1 and other respiratory viruses also seems to be associated with the moist, cool climate.

As the situation in Pakistan evolves, it is increasingly clear that the flood’s chronic pathology will include large-scale infectious and health concerns, which must be addressed as urgently as any epidemic.

Live from Hopkins: Secretary Clinton on the US Global Health Initiative

For those of you who are in Baltimore, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be paying you a visit on Monday to discuss the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative. That the Secretary of State is giving this talk underlines the important role of aid in the US’s foreign policy and diplomacy strategy in the developing world. Recently we have seen how various groups are competing for “the hearts and mind” of the populations devastated by the floods in Pakistan by offering the desperately needed aid that, many complain, the government is incapable or unwilling to provide.

But of course, the union of aid and diplomacy is a double-edged sword. The diplomatic fringe benefits can motivate the governments of developed nations to invest more in aid, and to shift this aid towards health and education efforts that have a more direct impact on communities (as opposed to say, massive infrastructure projects that tend to create the perfect opportunity for corrupt officials and businesspeople–not that global health efforts are immune from corruption!), but if diplomacy is the primary motivation, there is a significant risk that most decisions will be based not on the best interest of the communities in need, but rather on the political interests of those in power.

Unfortunately only SAIS students and staff will be allowed to attend the event in person, but there will be a live webcast accessible at http://www.sais-jhu.edu/.

Blurb from the Center for Global Health:

Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, will speak at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) on Monday, August 16 at 11:30 a.m.

Secretary Clinton will speak about “The Global Health Initiative: The Next Phase of American Leadership in Health Around the World.” The Global Health Initiative is a centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy and an expression of U.S. values and leadership in the world. Secretary Clinton will describe the Global Health Initiative’s core principles, and call on governments, organizations and individuals to join the United States in pursuing a sustainable approach for delivering essential health services to more people in more places.