Consequences of a Guineaworm Infection - Case Study Example

1. What are some of the short term and long term consequences of a guineaworm infection: GuineaWorm Infection is one of the very old diseases which was once spread all across under-developed countries in the world including some parts of Asia and Africa as well. Short term consequences: 1. Children who are generally get affectedby this disease are used to get very week within a very short time period. They are not able to attain their regular daily schedule like schooling or classes etc. As a result research has shown that areas where this disease was more frequent schools used to remain shut. 2. This is a disease which is considered as the indication of poverty in any particular area. Basically people who are unable to arrange purified water or healthy hygienic water is getaffected by this disease. Not only that this disease in long run startedto affect the economy by hampering cultivation process of the area. (Aylward et.al, 2000). Long term Consequences: 1. One of the key long term consequences is temporary disability suffered by the patients. As a result in some areas, where agriculture is the main source of income economy get affected drastically. Keeping this point in mind people of Dogontermed this disease as the disease of the empty granary. 2. Keeping in mind this social impact, economic impactcan also be calculated. Surveys’ conducted by various organizations has proved that, in Southern Nigeria, three rice growing areas affected by this disease can resultant into annual loss of $ 20 million. (Brieger, Watts , Yacoob Pediatr, 1989, p. 286). This is the impact of the disease where the frequency of disease is very high. Likewise, if once consider the other areas like Mali, where the incident of disease is comparatively low, the loss is within 5% of the actual economicvaluation. (Cairncross et.al, 2002). 2. Besides the Carter Centre, what other agencies contributed to the globalpartnership to eradicate the disease? There are several organizations working along with world health organization to fight against this disease in various parts of Asia and Africa. Initially the fight was initiatedby the World Health organization to remove the disease from various parts of Asia and Africa, especially in the low income zone where most of the people used to live below poverty line. WHO (World health Organization) and UNICEFtogether initiatedthe fight against this disease by introducing Health map initiative. (Cairncross et.al, 2002). Rural water supply in various West African countries is a project initiated and supported by Coopération Française and United Nations Development Program was also introduced to prevent this disease. 3. There were several components to the campaign to eradicate guinea worm. a.) What was the main objective of the national campaign? b.) What were theprimary interventions included in the campaign? National awareness or the public awareness is one of the major point associated with the prevention measure of this disease. The main objective of the national campaign is as follows: Educating the people about any particular nation or the state to ensure the fact that they along with their children are drinking pure and clean water and at the same time, places where farming is the major source of income, water supply to the farming land also need to be checked thoroughly so that people do not get infected. Safe water supply is another key objective of the national campaign conducted in various countries. Health education is another main objective of this national campaign. Educating people who are living below poverty line in various Asian and African countries to make it sure that the number of infected people not get increased and at the same time the economic condition of those areas where agriculture is the main source of income remain stable.. (Hopkins, 1998) Primary interventions taken during these campaigns are: Introducing various interactive sessions with the people of the disease affected areas; Helping them to understand the importance of drinking clean and purewater and also making sure that every individual stay healthy; Showing them the way of getting pure and safe water in minimum cost Educating people about the importanceof keeping their child healthy and free from the attack of this disease; Drink clean and pure water as much as possible; Introducing more and more social marketing to ensure that people get more aware about various facts; Ensuring all the villagers to be a part of Health Education so that affected villagers can get themselves free from the disease and at the same time others can also get to know how to be secure. (Hopkins et.al, 2002, p. 418) 4. Consult a source to get an update on the eradication campaign. ln whatcountries are there still cases reported? Number of people affected by Guinea-worm disease is continuously diminishing as only 126 cases are reported in 2014 according to the report published by WHO. At present the majority of the people who are affected by this disease are from Sudan (56% of total infectedpeople). If we compare the present fact, the decrease is almost 99%. There were 20 countries where the disease was initially reported during 1980s, and out of all those countries, only 4 countries still have the presence of this disease. Those 4 countries are Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan. (WHO Fact Sheet, 2015) 5. Create a public service message or health education message that can bedisseminated through any of the means described in the article. Incorporate the following in your description: a. Who is your intended audience? b. What form(s) of communication will you use? c. State or describe your message? d. Who will deliver the message? e. How will you determine whether your message was effective? The intended audience for this particular campaign will be people in the rural and semi urban areas specially those who areliving below the poverty line, where people do not have access to healthy environment where theyor their family leave. Generally the best way to communicate with the people are by organizing social campaigns in those areas, informing people about the importance of drinking pure and healthy weather and also about the long term impactof the disease for the individuals as well as on the economy of that area. Educating younger generation in classroom or during their study time is also another easy way to communicate the information to the people. Passing on small leaflets, pamphlets toall the houses is a best way to communicate with the people who are infected or stay in those areas where this disease is previously reported. The message can be as follows: Drink pure, clean water always to keep yourself healthy and fit always. Drink more, Stay Healthy and Keep Guinea worm disease away The message can be delivered in various parts of the affected area by following way: Pass on information by various health clinics across the area. Using Volunteers to spread on message in various areas, People who treated for this disease can pass on information more effectively and easily so that people who yet to get affected by this disease can be more precautious. The above message can be printed in t shirt of various people and they can pass on information to the interior parts of the rural and underdeveloped areas. The measurement of the effectiveness can only be done by measuring the numberof affecting people in any particular area before and after the activity has been organized. One can calculate the number of affectedpeople before organizing this disease and then after a certain time (for example 2 or 3months) one can again conduct a survey about the same to collect information about the same. If the number of new cases started to get reduced one can easily say that the campaign is a success. Apart from that, one can conduct a survey regarding how people are behaving or going about regarding their daily activity of drinking water or processes associated with purification of water. This can be another parameter based on which success can be determined. References Aylward B et.al, (2000), When is a disease eradicable? 100 years of lessons learned 90(10); p. 1515) Brieger R, Watts S, Yacoob M. and Pediatr, T. J. (1989), Guinea Worm, maternal morbidity, and child health, Journal of Tropical Paediatrics, 35(6), pp. 285-88 Cairncross S. et.al; 2002; Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease) and the Eradication Initiative; Clin Microbiol Rev. 15(2); pp. 223-246 Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease); (2015); World Health Organization Media Center Fact sheet; retrieved on 15.06.2015 from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs359/en/ Hopkins, D. R et.al; (2002); Dracunculiasis eradication: and now, Sudan. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 67(4); pp. 415–422. Hopkins, D. R; (1998); Perspectives from the Dracunculiasis eradication programme; Bull; W. H. O 76(2); pp. 38-41 Read More