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Enteropathies in the developing world: neglected effects on global health.

ABSTRACT: A spectrum of enteropathies, characterized by small intestinal inflammation, reduced absorptive capacity, and increased intestinal permeability, commonly affect people in developing countries. This subclinical intestinal pathology facilitates microbial translocation across the compromised intestinal barrier, leading to chronic systemic inflammation that may adversely impact health. Environmental enteropathy (EE), ubiquitous among people living in unhygienic conditions, likely mediates two interlinked public health problems of childhood, stunting and anemia, and underlies poor oral vaccine efficacy in developing countries. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) enteropathy, which frequently overlaps with EE, may contribute to immune activation and modulate HIV disease progression. The interacting effects of infection and enteropathy drive a vicious cycle that can propagate severe acute malnutrition, which underlies almost half of under-5-y deaths. Enteropathies are therefore highly prevalent, interacting causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Interventions to prevent or ameliorate enteropathies have potential to improve the health of millions of people in developing countries.

SUBMITTER: Prendergast A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3335677 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Enteropathies in the developing world: neglected effects on global health.

Prendergast Andrew A Kelly Paul P

The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 20120501 5

A spectrum of enteropathies, characterized by small intestinal inflammation, reduced absorptive capacity, and increased intestinal permeability, commonly affect people in developing countries. This subclinical intestinal pathology facilitates microbial translocation across the compromised intestinal barrier, leading to chronic systemic inflammation that may adversely impact health. Environmental enteropathy (EE), ubiquitous among people living in unhygienic conditions, likely mediates two interl ...[more]

PMID: 22556071

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Project description:BACKGROUND: There is a lack of effective and affordable technologies to address health needs in the developing world. One way to address problems of innovation and affordability is to design global health technologies to follow agreed-upon standards. This Debate article argues that we can better develop standards for global health technologies if we learn lessons from other industries. DISCUSSION: The article's Background section begins by explaining why standards are needed in global health. For example, if global health technologies can be modularized into independent interfacing parts, these parts can then interact via well-defined standards in a "plug and play" fashion. This can avoid development of mutually incompatible solutions by different organizations, speed the pace of innovation, unlock health systems from single providers and approaches, and lower barriers to entry. The Background then gives a brief primer on standards and discusses incentives for health standards. The article's Discussion section begins with brief relevant cases of standards development from other industries, including electricity, container shipping, CD standards, Universal Serial Bus (USB), and the Internet. It then explores lessons from these and other industries that suggest how to develop standards for global health technologies. The remainder of the Discussion considers intellectual property and regulatory issues and standards-based global health business models, and ends with a checklist of considerations for health standards development leaders. (The associated Additional file discusses observations from standards development for cell phones and semiconductors, as well as challenges in the standards development process itself.) Throughout the article, point-of-care diagnostics are used as an illustrative example. An initiative is already underway to explore standardized diagnostics platforms. SUMMARY: This Debate article aims to convince the reader that standards can benefit global health technologies if we learn lessons from other industries. The article draws from historical examples and the authors' experiences to suggest principles, challenges, and opportunities in developing these standards. If implemented well, standardized platforms can lower barriers to entry, improve affordability, and create a vibrant ecosystem of innovative new global health technologies.

Project description:BackgroundRecently, a number of Global Health Initiatives (GHI) have been created to address single disease issues in low-income countries, such as poliomyelitis, trachoma, neonatal tetanus, etc.. Empirical evidence on the effects of such GHIs on local health systems remains scarce. This paper explores positive and negative effects of the Integrated Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control Initiative, consisting in mass preventive chemotherapy for five targeted NTDs, on Mali's health system where it was first implemented in 2007.Methods and findingsCampaign processes and interactions with the health system were assessed through participant observation in two rural districts (8 health centres each). Information was complemented by interviews with key informants, website search and literature review. Preliminary results were validated during feedback sessions with Malian authorities from national, regional and district levels. We present positive and negative effects of the NTD campaign on the health system using the WHO framework of analysis based on six interrelated elements: health service delivery, health workforce, health information system, drug procurement system, financing and governance. At point of delivery, campaign-related workload severely interfered with routine care delivery which was cut down or totally interrupted during the campaign, as nurses were absent from their health centre for campaign-related activities. Only 2 of the 16 health centres, characterized by a qualified, stable and motivated workforce, were able to keep routine services running and to use the campaign as an opportunity for quality improvement. Increased workload was compensated by allowances, which significantly improved staff income, but also contributed to divert attention away from core routine activities. While the campaign increased the availability of NTD drugs at country level, parallel systems for drug supply and evaluation requested extra efforts burdening local health systems. The campaign budget barely financed institutional strengthening. Finally, though the initiative rested at least partially on national structures, pressures to absorb donated drugs and reach short-term coverage results contributed to distract energies away from other priorities, including overall health systems strengthening.ConclusionsOur study indicates that positive synergies between disease specific interventions and nontargeted health services are more likely to occur in robust health services and systems. Disease-specific interventions implemented as parallel activities in fragile health services may further weaken their responsiveness to community needs, especially when several GHIs operate simultaneously. Health system strengthening will not result from the sum of selective global interventions but requires a comprehensive approach.

Dataset Information

Enteropathies in the developing world: neglected effects on global health.

Publications

Enteropathies in the developing world: neglected effects on global health.

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