MedicalMissions.com

Everything you ever wanted to know about tropical diseases

  2. Share
Will Rogers Will Rogers
0 2

What follows in this post is everything you ever wanted to know about tropical diseases. We’ll look at the most common questions around tropical diseases, why it’s important to know about it, the history of tropical diseases, some resources for you as a missionary, and finally, your role as a medical missionary related to tropical diseases and why it’s important for you to know about it. 

What is a tropical disease? 

Tropical diseases, generally speaking, are infectious diseases that thrive in hot, humid conditions. There are 17 neglected tropical diseases (sometimes referred to as ‘NTDs’) found in several countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. NTDs are especially common in tropical areas where people do not have access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste.

What are some examples of tropical diseases? 

Examples of tropical diseases include malaria, cholera, Chagas disease, yellow fever, and dengue.

Why are they important to know about and understand? 

According to Baylor University College of Medicine, 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. Although tropical diseases are generally thought of as exclusively occurring in developing countries, new evidence indicates that the poor living in wealthy countries also are affected by tropical diseases. For instance, in the United States, tropical diseases such as Chagas disease, cysticercosis, dengue, toxocariasis, and West Nile virus infection are now widespread.

These infections are treatable and preventable. Tropical diseases encompass diseases that result from poverty, poor sanitation, infrastructure, and inadequate health resources. Lack of availability of clean water and food made with unhygienic practices add to the morbidity of these diseases. Many international relief efforts focus energy on these areas of community development in order to curb the spread of tropical diseases which are unnecessarily killing people.

What is the history of tropical disease?

Ancient physicians, including Greek physician Hippocrates and Roman medical writer Aulus Cornelius Celsus, wrote about malarial diseases, and modern molecular analyses of Egyptian mummies have suggested that malaria was present in ancient Egypt. 

After the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Europeans discovered yellow fever, a disease present in tropical Africa and South America. Scientific interest in the identification and classification of tropical diseases emerged in the 19th century, when increasing numbers of Europeans and Americans, as a result of exploration and colonial expansion, were brought into contact with infectious diseases in tropical and subtropical climates.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many tropical diseases were found to be transmitted by vectors, such as mosquitoes, fleas, lice, snails, and other animals, and some diseases were linked to contaminated food or water. Eventually, the pathogens (disease-causing organisms) for many tropical diseases were identified; they include bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the significance of tropical diseases grew despite the fact that much had been learned about prevention. Because of population growth, increased migration, tourism, and the breakdown of public health systems, tropical diseases re-emerged and new strains, such as ebola broke out.

What is the role of the medical missionary?

What can you do after knowing about tropical diseases? There are several things you can do: 

  1. Understand tropical diseases: educate yourself and learn from those that have gone before you
  2. Care about tropical diseases:  you could choose to ignore tropical diseases since they are not present in most of the developed world
  3. Care about those in our world who live in poverty and do not have the appropriate resources to prevent and treat tropical diseases
  4. Provide compassionate, informed care: whether short term trip or long term service, tropical medicine is a great way to engage and serve across a wide swath of the globe

What are some resources for the medical missionary?

According to one of our frequent GMHC speakers, Dr. Samuel Palpant, one of the best resources for up-to-date information and a look at travel medicine and current epidemics: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel or www.who.int 

Dr. Palpant also recommends the following books and resources on tropical diseases and medicine:  

Community tags

This content has 0 tags that match your profile.

Healthcare Specialties Show all (70)

Allergy
Allied Health
Anesthesia
Associate Degree and Diploma Nurses
Athletic Training
Baccalaureate Prepared Nurses
Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering
Cardiology
Cardiothoracic
Chiropractics

Global Health Interest Areas Show all (42)

Abortion
Adolescent Health & Development
Bioethics
Children
Cholera
Church Planting
Clean Water
Community Development
COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Dengue

Areas of the World Show all (206)

Afghanistan
Africa
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Asia

Ways to Engage

Domestic Missions
Global Professionals
Long-Term Missions (2+ Years)
Mid-Term Missions (3 Months - 2 Years)
Short-Term Missions (1 Week - 3 Months)

Student Opportunities

Yes - our organization offers student opportunities

Comments

To leave a comment, login or sign up.
  • Duellyn Pandis

    Duellyn Pandis

    The links are broken to: Dr. Palpant Tropical Medical Cases: Non-Surgical Dr. Douglas Collins Neglected Tropical Diseases Dr. Charles Mosler Treatment of Tropical Diseases that Make It to the United States
  • Thomas Cairns

    Thomas Cairns

    Thanks. These resources are fine for docs who don't plan to spend a long time in the tropics or only occasionally see a case in their practice in the USA. It would be good to list here also the various schools of Tropical Medicine where one can be much better trained and informed like Antwerp, Liverpool, London, etc. These take months but implies a long term commitment to missionary medicine.

Related Content

0
Four things you should know about justice in healthcare
Justice in healthcare can take many different forms. It is a vital subject that every provider and practitioner needs to grapple with. In this post, we’ll cover a few of the common questions that will come up over the course of a healthcare provider’s work.  We’ll look at justice in healthcare as it relates to a time of a pandemic, social determinants, mental health considerations, and health disparities that often arise and exist when there is injustice in healthcare.  #1 We must understand justice in healthcare during a pandemic. Dr. David Stevens wrote about this topic in A Christian Healthcare Worker's Response to COVID-19.  Justice in healthcare is a tough topic, but it’s compounded during a pandemic, and it quickly becomes way more difficult to discuss. Allocating limited resources raises the ethical issue of justice—how do you treat patients fairly? How do you care for people—especially when so many more people need life and death care—and quickly? Dr. Stevens offers the following advice: First, you always want to be as impartial as the situation allows. Second, do the best you can for the most people with the resources you have. Third, without enough time, personnel, supplies, or supplies, at some point you will be forced to decide who gets and who doesn’t get your limited resource. You have the moral obligation to be constantly working to get the resources you need, so you won’t have to continue to make utilitarian decisions. Lastly, be sure to continue reading for more wisdom in the area of healthcare during a pandemic. #2 We must understand social determinants of health. According to Healthy People 2020, “Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.”  This is an issue of justice in healthcare because professionals must be committed to looking at the whole person, not just the malady. If a person is born and lives in an area with pollution, crime, violence, a poor education system, and few job opportunities, their health concerns will stem from those social determinants. Hospitals, clinics, doctors, and practitioners must be prepared to address these social issues if we want to see widespread improvements in health. #3 We need to understand mental health. Undiagnosed and untreated mental health disorders can lead to an array of serious ramifications including substance abuse, homelessness, interpersonal violence, and more. Ensuring that patients can access healthcare is vital. This might look like hiring community health workers to help navigate difficult systems or accepting patients who are uninsured or underinsured. Helping those who have difficulty navigating complex healthcare systems is a way to ensure that there is justice in healthcare. #4 We must consider health disparities. Another way to focus on justice in healthcare is to concentrate efforts on eliminating the health disparities we see that are based on race in the US. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Community- and faith-based organizations, employers, healthcare systems and providers, public health agencies, policymakers, and others all have a part in helping to promote fair access to health.”  The population health impact of COVID-19 has exposed longstanding inequities that have systematically undermined the physical, social, economic, and emotional health of racial and ethnic minority populations and other population groups that are bearing a disproportionate burden of COVID-19. According to the National Institutes of Health, although significant progress has been made in narrowing the gap in health outcomes (NCHS, 2016), the elimination of disparities in health has yet to be achieved. Despite overall improvements in health over time, some health disparities persist.  For example, while national infant mortality rates decreased overall by 14 percent from 2004 to 2014, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives have an infant mortality rate that is 60 percent higher than the rate for their white counterparts (HHS, 2014) and in 2013, infants born to African American mothers experienced the highest rates of infant mortality. Sadly, African Americans were 30 percent more likely than whites to die prematurely from heart disease in 2010, and African American men are twice as likely as whites to die prematurely from a stroke. Addressing these persistent health disparities in every way that you can is another way to fight for justice in healthcare.  There are so many more issues facing us when it comes to justice in healthcare. However, trying to learn and start to address these four areas, from how we handle these issues in a time of a pandemic, social determinants, mental health considerations, and health disparities, we’ll begin the process of creating a world where there truly is justice in healthcare.
1
Five questions about being a missionary doctor
Have you ever thought about being a missionary doctor? If you have, odds are good you’ve quickly jumped from thinking about being a missionary doctor to asking these common questions.  In this post, I want to give you details on the role of the missionary doctor. I’ll cover four of the most common questions from what a missionary doctor is, what a missionary doctor does, we’ll look at some missionary doctors who are currently serving, I’ll cover how missionary doctors make a living, and what’s often required to become a missionary doctor.  Question 1: What is a missionary doctor?  According to Reach Beyond, a Global Missions Health Conference exhibitor, a missionary doctor is: Someone who has earned their medical degree and can practice medicine.  The ability and desire to live and work overseas Sensitivity to cross-cultural issues A willingness to work with local partners A tolerance for uncertainty Imagination to see and explore opportunities that may arise A desire to mentor and coach other medical professionals The ability and desire to raise missionary support and/or be self-funded A commitment to serving long-term in the mission field A willingness to learn the local language Question 2: What does a missionary doctor look like? Missionary doctors can look very different. You might find them living anywhere in the world. They may live and work anywhere from a jungle clinic to a state-of-the-art facility in the middle east. The missionary doctor may be a male or female and from any country. In short, if you have the skills, education, and experience—you can be a missionary doctor! Question 3: Who are some missionaries currently serving? There are many missionary doctors serving all over the globe. I’ve highlighted a few of them below.  Dr. Tim and Kathy Rice: You can read about Dr. Tim Rice and Nurse educator Kathy Rice about their hospital and service in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tim is the medical director of Vanga Evangelical Hospital and continues to serve as a doctor on the faculty of the School of Medicine at Saint Louis University. Kathy directs the nursing school as a registered nurse and educator. The Rice's aim to train the next generation of Congolese doctors, nurses, and health administrators in Christ-centered, whole-person care, empowering them to use the limited resources available to restore life and health across the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Jon Yoder: Dr. Jon Yoder is the resident doctor at a hospital in Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone.  The hospital belongs to the national church of Sierra Leone which is a United Brethren global mission. Sierra Leone lies on the west side of Africa on the Atlantic Ocean. The average life expectancy is 45 years old. It is most known to Americans for the tragic war in the 1990s, blood diamonds, and most recently for the now resolved Ebola crisis. Every person has his or her story of how they survived during these tragic times. Many people fled the country and some went into hiding. However, Sierra Leone is now at peace and well. You can read more about Sierra Leone and Dr. Yoder. Kiersten Hutchinson: Kiersten Hutchinson has served at Karanda for the past 18 years, not as a missionary doctor, but as a physician assistant with TEAM. She describes her journey from short-term trips, to reluctance and doubt, to full-time missionary work. In addition to stories of missionary doctors, I wanted to point out Karanda Mission Hospital: Karanda Mission Hospital was established in 1961 to meet the needs of mission stations in the Zambezi River valley which were established as churches and then, as the abundant health care challenges were seen, small dispensaries/clinics were developed along with churches and finally schools. To help the clinics, the hospital was built. Karanda is in a remote area of Northern Zimbabwe nearest to Mount Darwin. Its location is approximately 124 miles from Harare, the Capital of Zimbabwe. Question 4: How do missionary doctors earn a living? Missionary doctors may earn a living in a variety of ways. For example, some doctors are paid by the hospitals they are working for. Others may have to raise all of their own support from friends, family, or sending organizations. Most will do a combination of support raising and salary from the hospital in which they serve. Additionally, some mission organizations will do their own fundraising, and doctors may only have to cover a portion of their living expenses. There are many variations to earning a living and you can find something that works for you and your needs.  Question 5: What is required to become a missionary? In most cases, becoming a missionary means you’ll have to meet some basic qualifications, such as age, education, experience, and/or faith-based requirements. Next, you’ll want to reach out to members of your community about mission work and about how you can do some independent research of your own. After finding the right fit, it's all about completing the application process, any training involved and continuing to point to God with your skills, experience, and life. I hope this post has been helpful for you in answering some of the most common questions surrounding becoming a missionary doctor. 
MedicalMissions.com
Powered by Cause Machine. All rights reserved.