2023-10-09 01:00:16
Communities with limited resources are often the most affected by communicable diseases.
Although there are already vaccines and treatments for most of these problems, they are not available to everyone.
There are some, like measles, that were about to be eradicated but in recent years reappeared.
Health is the basis for having a full life. The desire that all people have is to be able to reach old age in the best possible condition and avoid any type of suffering. Unfortunately, not everyone succeeds because there are problems such as communicable diseases that prevent full development. Furthermore, in the worst case scenario, they cause premature deaths.
In this regard, there are groups such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that prioritize disease prevention. To achieve this, it is necessary to consolidate vaccination coverage, access to treatment and put an end to epidemics of communicable diseases.
The poorest are the most affected
Importantly, these types of problems disproportionately affect communities with limited resources. They are also linked to a complex variety of overlapping health determinants. Among the main ones are the availability of drinking water and basic sanitation, housing conditions, the risks of climate change, gender inequalities, sociocultural factors and poverty, among others.
Estimates indicate that a group of communicable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected infectious diseases, accounted for 6% of the total burden of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). ) in all age groups and in both sexes in the Region of the Americas in 2017.
That same group of diseases caused 7% of total mortality. If cirrhosis related to viral hepatitis and liver cancer related to hepatitis and cervical cancer are included, the disease burden increases to 9% of total deaths.
In addition to economic costs, communicable diseases impose intangible social costs on individuals, families, and communities. The burden generated by these diseases, with their economic, social and health costs, prevents achieving full health and highlights the need to redouble efforts to eliminate diseases in the Region.
The ones that affect people the most
However, NYRequirementsa health and nursing education provider, conducted an analysis on estimates of the burden of disease from the World Health Organization (WHO).
What was obtained is that there are 40 communicable diseases that caused the greatest number of years of life lost and loss of healthy life.
Measured in ‘disability adjusted life years’ (DALYs), the metric not only takes into account the burden of mortality, but also morbidity. DALYs estimate the number of years of healthy life lost due to a disease in a country’s population.
As summarized in the work published in Statesman, of the 40 communicable diseases included in the study, six communicable diseases cause the greatest loss of years of life. Furthermore, the results vary from one country to another.
Something very important is that the research was carried out with data from 2019. Therefore, Covid-19 does not appear because at that time it did not yet exist.
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