What is Tropical Medicine
Tropical Medicine’s Role
First and foremost tropical diseases are diseases of poverty. They are the most common afflictions of the “bottom billion” the 1.3 billion people who live below the World Bank poverty level. Tropical medicine is an important component of global health, but it is more focused on the specific tropical infections that occur in resource poor settings, with detailed emphasis on the pathogens, their vectors, how they are transmitted (their epidemiology), their treatment and prevention, and even how to develop new control tools to combat tropical diseases, including new drugs, insecticides, diagnostics, and vaccines.
Neglected Tropical Diseases
Almost all of the world’s poor are affected by at least one NTD, and these conditions have been shown to be a stealth reason why the bottom billion cannot escape poverty. This is especially true for “the bottom billion,” the 1.4 billion people who live below the World Bank’s poverty level of US$1.25 per day. In addition to the NTDs, malaria remains a devastating tropical infection in the world’s low- and middle-income countries with an estimated 500 million cases annually and more than 800,000 deaths.
Three populations are especially vulnerable to tropical infections and the NTDs and NIoPs:
Children suffer from developmental delays, growth failure and reductions in intelligence and cognitive abilities, especially from the high prevalence NTDs such as hookworm and other soil-transmitted helminthiases and schistosomiasis. Malaria ranks among the top three killers of children under the age of five.
Women suffer as a result of tropical infections during pregnancy, including hookworm, malaria and Chagas disease with harmful effects for both mother and child. Female genital schistosomiasis is a devastating NTD among both girls and women and a stealth co-factor in Africa’s HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Adult Agricultural Workers suffer from diminished productivity as a result of lymphatic filariasis (LF), onchocerciasis, hookworm anemia, and Chagas disease. India alone loses almost $1 billion in economic losses annually from LF.
Diploma in Tropical Medicine is a great credential for physicians and other health professionals who need to know about the specific diseases affecting people who live in poverty or resource-poor settings. The Tropical Medicine Summer Institute provides intensive, hands-on exposure to tropical medicine for undergraduates planning careers in this field.
- For physicians, physician assistants, and medical students, a Diploma in Tropical Medicine
- For undergraduate students, a two-week intensive Tropical Medicine Summer Institute
- Students seeking to determine if tropical medicine is a career they wish to pursue may explore a variety of topics in the Seminar in Tropical Medicine.
- New MS degrees, certificate in vaccine biotechnology, and even a Ph.D. program in global health technologies are under development.
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