Today, I found this gem-of-a-movie at the library — and got to watch it for free.  The documentary is called Life and Debt, and is based on the economic problems in Jamaica that started after the British left. It’s a fascinating movie, and I was saddened by the series of events and the situation the country is in.

It’s very well done, and the link I provided gives you tons of information about the movie, so I will not elaborate further.

To your prosperity,

Sue

What caught my attention was in a list of supposed benefits of the product, one of them being…helping with “economy class syndrome.”  Hmmm…I thought.  What does that mean?  Are people who fly economy at risk for health issues?  The little plug states…

“(product) has been shown to counteract swelling in the lower limbs and decreased platelet activity that can occur as a result of prolonged sitting and decreased air pressure prevalent in airplane cabins.  This syndrome is known as “economy class syndrome” or Deep Vein Thrombosis.”

Gee, I didn’t know I was at risk of something if I didn’t fly first class?  Did you?  

But it got me thinking…are there “poor people’s diseases?”  Well, yup…in doing a search on just that sequence of words, there ARE poor people’s diseases!  I found a couple of links that shed a bit of light on the subject for me.

The first link is quite dated (2001), but informed me of the three specific “poor people’s diseases,” specifically sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis.  One profound statement from that site is: 

“Drugs are not developed according to public health need, but according to profitability,” laments Dr Pecoul, who adds that a new paradigm is urgently needed to address this fatal imbalance.”

This article taught me that there is some good news – yup… “aids is NOT a poor people’s disease!”  How lucky for us all!  This paragraphs kind of sums it up…

“As fatal illnesses go, AIDS is the best one for a poor person to catch because rich people get it, too. The other diseases might as well hang out a sign: “Poor People Only.” They offer researchers no profitable market. They have little political constituency. There is no well-connected group of sufferers who stage protests and lobby pharmaceutical companies and Congress to develop better medicines or make existing ones more available. The response to disease is political: the illnesses of invisible people usually stay invisible.”

In both articles, it also added the diseases tuberculosis and malaria as well.  Hmmm…

To your prosperity,

Sue