Ebola has scarred our minds with frightening images of death, destruction and dire challenges for the countries that have been affected. While the disease effects may be dissipating, with reported cases dwindling into the single digits, the repercussions on the healthcare system are crippling and will persist for a long time to come, as highlighted by the CNN piece, “Here’s where we are 1 year later.”
Yet a more highly prevalent disease burden with established predictions for alarming impacts on healthcare, lacks coverage or attention of any comparable level. Noncommunicable diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease and mental illness, have been well-documented by the WHO and other bodies as the leading cause of death in the world, with the number of deaths due to disease nearing 40 million compared to the estimated 11,000 lives lost, reported by the CDC, due to Ebola. The numbers speak for themselves.
Sadly, a preponderance of noncommunicable disease-related deaths (80%) occur primarily in Low- and Middle-Income Countries which currently lack both the infrastructure, or tools to address much of this burden, as was evident by the rapid spread of disease with the Ebola epidemic, barriers to which were hampered by this lack of infrastructure. Additionally, the projected disproportion in expected noncommunicable disease deaths among younger residents of low- and middle-income countries present a major threat to their economic stability, as enforced by the international non-profit, NCD Synergies Network and other active organizations for the cause.
One thing the Ebola outbreak should have taught us is the danger of delaying action early when facing a health threat. In the care of noncommunicable diseases, early detection and associated prevention is critical, such as management of blood pressure to avoid the need for dialysis due to avoidable kidney complications, and reducing the risk of strokes which cause chronic disability that severely impede productivity and lifestyle. Additionally, screening is necessary for the detection of some cancers as has been highlighted by recent discussions of the breast cancer guideline changes by the American Cancer Society. Of note, these downstream complications that result from the lack of attention to noncommunicable diseases early on are considerably more expensive than the efforts that go into providing care to prevent them.
What is needed now is an international wakeup call about the urgent global threat, along with the prompt creation of international programs in education and research that can help build structures for addressing this burden of disease. Governments and the global private sector need to prioritize the problem, considering the scope of the worrying downstream economic effects of this burden of disease on already crippled healthcare systems. They must act quickly and purposefully to find solutions to what promises to be an even greater devastating state of public health and health systems than we have seen with any other spectrum of disease, including Ebola.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy