Those who work for Doctors Without Borders, a private nonprofit
that serves people who lack health care due to social or geographic
isolation, see the world’s worst situations and know what the media
is missing. So when they compile a list of underreported stories,
we can’t help but pay attention.
For instance, Uganda is rarely in the news, but its populace has
been brutalized by an 18 year-old conflict between the government
and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which has killed tens of
thousands of citizens and kidnapped just as many children to be
used as soldiers and sexual slaves. As a result, it’s estimated
that nearly 80 percent of the Ugandan population are living and
dying in makeshift settlements, where a lack of proper health care
and nutrition leads to deadly diseases such as malaria.
Another subject rarely reported on is tuberculosis (TB), which
kills one person every 15 seconds — 240 an hour, 57,600
5,760 a day. The disease is particularly problematic in the
developing world, where it’s too expensive to provide detection and
treatment. Since TB is the most common opportunistic infection for
those living with HIV and AIDS, a pandemic in the developing world,
the number of cases has skyrocketed. ‘Massive investment is needed
now so that we can effectively diagnose and treat all those with TB
in the shortest possible time,’ notes Dr. Francine Matthys, TB
advisor for Doctors Without Borders’ Campaign for Access to
Essential Medicines.
In Ethiopia, more than 10 percent of newborn babies don’t live
to see their first birthday. And those who do survive and live in
the country’s arid highlands face chronic food shortages due to a
drought that has killed off livestock. As the government has worked
to relocate its citizens to more fertile lowlands, they’ve learned
that people moved into those areas are more susceptible to
malaria.
These stories, along with tales of conflict in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and the ongoing war in Chechnya, make the Doctors
Without Borders’ list an essential read.
— Marca Bradt
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Top 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2004
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