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A Raging TB Epidemic in Papua New Guinea Threatens to Destabilize the Entire Asia Pacific:
In Papua New Guinea, a TB epidemic threatens to turn into a disaster that could destabilize the Asia Pacific region. Situated about 90 miles from Australia in the Pacific Ocean, the island nation sees more than 100 cases of TB every day.
Of these cases, five are drug-resistant strains, and 10 people will die, according to World Health Organization figures. Yet, in a nation where more than one-third of the population is illiterate, these figures grossly underestimate the actual number of TB cases due to underreporting. Additionally, 86% of the country’s 8 million citizens live in rural areas with little or no access to health care, further obscuring the numbers.
The government now faces a herculean task to battle the epidemic that has plagued the country. It shares the island with the separate nation of Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, which faces a similar struggle against TB. And Australia, a close neighbor, also has cause for concern: The bacterial disease that attacks the lungs is highly contagious, expensive to treat and is rapidly developing a resistance to drugs.
The country offers a grim textbook case of how education and infrastructure impact health care: The government has neither the finances nor the resources to tackle TB as an increasingly insurmountable health crisis.
[...] According to the WHO, 10 million new TB cases appeared globally in 2017 alone (though TB rates have fallen worldwide). That same year, it killed 1.6 million people, making TB the world’s deadliest infectious disease. And places like Papua New Guinea are seeing an uptick in infection rates — particularly in multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and the even more feared drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB)
This grim trend is exportable to neighboring countries.
[...] Many patients can only reach their nearest makeshift hospital by boat — and children have reportedly died en route to treatment after canoes capsize in choppy seas, according to aid workers.
Port Moresby, the capital, is not connected to other major towns by road, and many of the villages in the highlands can only be reached by foot or small aircraft, which is astronomically expensive. Frequent mobile cell service outages render communication a daily struggle. Several mountainous tribes still have little or no contact with the outside world.
[...] With approximately 850 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea, TB education and treatment relies on educators who can speak local languages and dialects like Tok Pisin, a Creole language, and Hiri Motu, a trading language.
“It is not as simple as educating people about TB,” says Lungten Wangchuk, a Papua New Guinea-based TB medical officer with WHO. “We are coming up against traditions, culture, illiteracy, no proper transport, and no money to fund the expensive DR-TB treatment.”
(Score: 4, Funny) by loic on Friday July 05 2019, @12:57PM (5 children)
I've read the summary, and had to go through a good part of this piece to know what TB stands for. So I will settle for a terabyte epidemic instead.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday July 05 2019, @02:03PM (4 children)
That's a testament to how much things have changed in much of the world. During my father's generation (born 1922) using TB as shorthand for tuberculosis was nearly universal and very widely known. Most people would know someone who had caught TB. I can still remember the TB sanitorium that was in a nearby town being there when I was a little boy.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 05 2019, @02:21PM (3 children)
Things sometimes change back again, too. In this area, 30 years ago, TB was all but unknown. The prison population was most familiar with it. Today, thanks to immigration, discussion of TB is pretty common. We've returned to "Most people would know someone who had caught TB." or very near to it.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday July 05 2019, @09:09PM
Today, thanks to immigration, discussion of TB is pretty common.
Really man! Time to kick the Brits and the Dutch out of North America!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 05 2019, @09:10PM
In another 30 years, TB will be something so small only computer geeks use, while the proplaguers are making sure that everyone will know about TB, small pox, and other measles.
It's a cycle
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday July 06 2019, @06:02AM
While the people I know who have had TB this year are immigrants, or rather grandchildren of immigrants, the population who mostly gets TB in Canada are the natives. You are right though about immigrants bringing it in over the last 500 years.