Priorities for Medicine and Health in the Tropics

Abstract

The problems of health and disease in tropical countries differ from those in the temperate zones in several important respects. It is by no means a question only of climate, nor of the parasitic and vector-borne diseases which are largely confined to the tropics and subtropics because their causative parasites require high ambient temperatures for development or because their vertebrate and/or invertebrate hosts are restricted to warm climates. Equally important are the social, nutritional, educational, and environmental factors characteristic of the poverty—both rural and urban—that afflicts the majority of the peoples of most tropical developing countries—poverty not only of income but also of public services and resources, and increasing in many areas because of galloping population growth in the face of slow and often faltering economic growth. In such circumstances, existing knowledge capable of improving health and controlling diseases cannot be effectively utilized, and further advances in knowledge from research will be equally ineffective unless they can be interpreted into economically feasible and socially, culturally, politically, and ecologically acceptable programs of action.