Shannon Bourret
April 20, 2009
10:07 PM
According to a recent study, something as simple and as cheap as aspirin can potentially save millions of people living in rural India. A third of the lives in Southern India, where the study was conducted, are claimed by cardiovascular disease. According to Rohina Joshi, from the George Institute for International Health in Sydney, Australia, "the key finding from this new analysis is that while many treatments for the prevention of cardiovascular disease are low-cost and effective, the uptake of these drugs has been limited in this rural area of India."
The study showed that 41% of all deaths due to cardiovascular disease in rural areas in India occurred in those who were under 65 years, compared to only 17 % for the same age group in the US. Cardiovascular disease seems to be having significant economic and social consequences among families, especially in rural India.
This article makes me hopeful. I think it is so exciting when something simple can make a huge difference. It surprises me that aspirin, which is so simple and inexpensive, is making such an enormous difference around the world. But I do have one question. Why stop at India? If something so low key as aspirin is having such a positive effect in India, why are other underdeveloped nations not taking advantage of this as well? I understand that this was just a study. But since the results conclude that millions of lives could be saved in India alone, it only makes sense that other countries would jump on the band wagon and use aspirin to combat cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is a major problem worldwide. Therefore, it is obvious that all possible steps need to be taken to combat this disease. I think this discovery is so exciting and has tremendous potential to save lives worldwide!
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2 comments:
Global health is a big issue which is very often not taken seriously. Nowadays, if one reads the newspaper it seems as if the economic downturn is the most important issue that is handeled by most governments. But do the so-called industrialized countries take care of their health problems respectively health issues in other countries?
In my opinion, using aspirin to combat cardiovascular disease is a great first step in order to tackle this problem. And it would be great if Aspirin as a cardiovascular disease-killer was used in more countries.
A larger push towards helping people in these simple ways should be made in the Western World. I know people are so disconnected from problems such as these, but if we could grab their attention just for a moment to stress the simplicity in saving many lives, then I think progress could be made.
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