Christine Budke Works To Raise Awareness About Neglected Diseases

The earthquake in Haiti has pushed this most impoverished country in the Western hemisphere into the spotlight and in doing so, has drawn attention to the Cinderella diseases of the world: neglected tropical diseases or NTDs.

Described as such by the World Health Organization (WHO) because they persist “exclusively in the poorest and most marginalized communities and have been largely eliminated elsewhere and thus are often forgotten,” NTDs affect more than 1 billion people worldwide. They are highly prevalent in countries like Haiti that have high levels of poverty and poor sanitation and medical systems.

Most NTDs kill slowly, causing life-long disabilities, which in turn have severe consequences for both human health and livelihood. Examples of these diseases are leprosy, lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) and trachoma, characterized by debilitation, thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, and blindness, respectively.

The irony is that most NTDs are completely preventable. However, the poor economic and political clout of their victims means that there is little pressure on national or international health care programs to prioritize funding for the control of these diseases.

At the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Christine Budke, assistant professor of epidemiology, is aiming to change this.

Continue reading on Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences website.