Infectious diseases – diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites – kill 14.9 million people every year, mainly in poor countries. That accounts for 26% of TOTAL deaths – from all causes. Unfortunately, infectious diseases take the largest toll in poor countries, especially those in tropical zones such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Diseases that are almost eradicated in many countries, such as malaria, affect hundreds of millions of people every year, and force families deeper into poverty.

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Infectious diseases can be caused by bacteria. Both malaria and tuberculosis are bacterial in origin.

One of the problems with trying to curb the effects of infectious diseases in poor countries is that many of the poor are not in good health to begin with. Infectious diseases spread like wildfire in these areas – lack of clean water or sanitation, malnutrition, and reduced access to medication all have a hand in creating an environment in which infectious diseases thrive. Examples of this are evident. Many poor countries are situated in tropical zones, which increase malaria infection rates. Tuberculosis occurs more frequently in badly ventilated and crowded areas. Diarrhea is primarily caused by unclean drinking water.

It is also frustrating that many of these terrible diseases are easily treatable. In developed countries, malaria and diarrhea kill very, very few people – malaria has been completely eradicated in the United States – and other diseases such as tuberculosis take a vastly reduced toll. Malaria can be prevented with a variety of drugs, or through use of insecticide and mosquito nets. Diarrhea can be easily prevented with increases in sanitation quality. Many types of medication exist to treat tuberculosis. Combating these disease – and reducing poverty by doing so – is well within reach if the right tools are used.

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Malaria – a disease spread by mosquitoes in the tropics – infects around 425 million people every year. Of those infected, approximately 1.2 million die. The relationship between malaria and poverty is also clear – those countries that have the highest malaria rates are also some of the world’s poorest nations. Fifty-eight percent of all malaria cases occur in the poorest 20% of the population.

Malaria is a leading cause of death for children under five, but it infects and kills many adults as well, reducing productivity (the World Bank estimates that Africa alone loses $12 billion from malaria each year. In African countries, it is estimated that for every case of malaria, $8.01 is lost indirectly in lost productivity).

Fortunately, much is being done to fight malaria in impoverished countries – after all, treatment is generally simple and cheap. The health/humanitarian aid organization Médecins sans Frontières estimates that the cost to treat an infected individual in a country with a malaria problem is only $0.40 to $2.40. The U.N. Millennium Development Goals also address malaria (and other diseases) – one of the targets of goal #6 is to “have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases."

A malaria bacterium infecting a cell.

In 1998, the World Health Organization initiated the ‘Roll Back Malaria’ campaign, to combat malaria across the globe. The RBM campaign stated that its goal was to halve malaria incidences by 2010, and since 1998, it has made significant progress. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which also works against diseases in developing nations, has partnered with the RBM campaign, and has given more than $942 million. Also, the Global Fund has financed 109 million bed nets to prevent bites from malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and 264 million doses of malaria medication.

However, problems still exist in combating malaria. Some types of malaria strains have become resistant to common drugs – these drugs are no longer effective. Chloroquine, which has long been used as malaria medication in malaria hotspots such as Africa and Southeast Asia, has become very inefficient in treating many malaria cases. A relatively new type of anti-malaria drug has been introduced, but while it is proven to be successful in 90% of cases, it is hard to obtain in many poor countries. The Global Fund’s financing of 264 million doses of malaria medication is helping to alleviate this problem, however – every dose is based on the new drug.

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While tuberculosis does not affect as many people each year as malaria, it has a much higher mortality rate than malaria, and an estimated 1.6 million people die from ‘TB’ every year. Over 1/3 of the world’s populace is infected with the TB bacterium, but only about nine million or so of these people develop the TB illness each year. This illness usually affects the lungs, but different forms of TB can affect almost any area of the body. Unfortunately, if left untreated, 50% of those who contract the TB illness die.

Tuberculosis bacteria (red).

Tuberculosis, like malaria, disproportionately affects the poor. The tuberculosis bacterium becomes activated much more easily in people with a lowered immune system or bad (not nutritious) diet. Tuberculosis also spreads very rapidly in crowded, unventilated areas – such as those found in poorer sections of cities in developing nations. Ninety percent of the world’s TB cases occur in developing countries (and results in $12 billion of lost income for the poor in the developing world. Families who must cope with TB cases can lose 30-100% of their income in the process, mainly because effective treatment of TB usually takes around six months).

While more expensive than drugs for malaria, drugs exist to treat TB. Current TB drugs and treatment have a 95% success rate, and cost around $10 per person in developing nations. This treatment, combined with an international TB prevention program known as DOTS – which works to raise political awareness, identify, and treat TB – is the leading global strategy to combat TB. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is working to cure three million cases of TB through the DOTS strategy. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is another major supporter of the DOTS plan, and also helps fund TB vaccine developments.

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Diarrhea is an intestinal disorder that can be caused by a number of individual diseases. It affects primarily young children, especially those without proper nutrition or a weakened immune system (common features in children of impoverished families). Every year, an estimated four billion people have cases of diarrhea (though most diarrhea cases last only a few days), and 1.8 million die. Most of theses deaths occur among children less than five years old – a terrible loss for future generations in developing countries.

Diarrha causes dehydration, but can easily be corrected by oral rehydration salts.

The solution to diarrhea is very simple. Because diarrhea becomes deadly when it is not treated promptly (it causes severe dehydration), treatment generally involves Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT), where special liquid solutions containing oral rehydration salts, help victims retain water. ORT can easily be administered to victims of diarrhea, and almost always result in rehydration and recovery. Oral rehydration salts used in ORT come prepackaged and cost only about 10 cents, and can even be created by hand using common ingredients if needed (see the Oral Rehydration Therapy Flash Interaction for more information). Long-term solutions to diarrhea are based around sanitation and water – clean water and clean sanitary measures to dispose of waste are the best and easiest ways to prevent diarrhea. The organisms that cause diarrhea often reside in dirty water, and if contact with unclean water sources is reduced, so are diarrhea cases.

Due to the simplicity of treatment, diarrhea programs have seen a lot of success in recent years – an estimated one million children are saved each year by use of ORTs. In 45 countries, UNICEF has conducted programs to treat 80% of child diarrhea cases, and other organizations such as the Rehydration Project work with governments to spread awareness of diarrhea and its treatment. They concentrate on training health workers to deal with diarrhea cases effectively and on ensuring that families experiencing diarrhea cases know the proper procedure for administering ORT.

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Infectious diseases encompass a huge number of illnesses – many more than can be discussed here. And though almost all can be treated successfully in developed countries, the lack of adequate health care in the developed world makes them a huge problem. However, foundations such as the Gates Foundation have made infectious diseases a top priority. Campaigns such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria are also doing their part to increase awareness of infectious diseases and halt their spread. The U.N. Millennium Development Goals includes references to infectious diseases such as malaria. Even the United States announced a renewed fight against malaria across the globe in 2001.

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The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 2005.

Fox, Maggie. Reuters: Gates grants aim to improve health of world's poor. 27 June 2005. Global Health Council: Infectious Diseases. 2006.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. 2006.

The Global Fund: World TB Day 2005. 2006.

The Global Fund: The Status and Impact of the Three Diseases: Malaria (PDF). 2005.

President Announces Proposal for Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis . 2001.

Rehydration Project. 2006.

Specter, Michael. ‘A Reporter at Large: What Money can Buy.’ The New Yorker. 24 October 2005, pg. 56-71.

WHO: Goal 6: Malaria. 2006.

Wikipedia: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 2005.

Wikipedia: Infectious Diseases. 2006.

Wikipedia: Malaria. 2006.

Wikipedia: Tuberculosis. 2003.

Wikipedia: Vaccine. 2006.

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