I think we are all in agreement. Containment can be horrible when used to keep women in the household doing the dishes or slow down the civil rights movement; however, what about infectious disease? Is it possible to use containment in a good way to protect the common good? The blog, " CDC recommends polio boosters for travelers to 44 countries " explains the nature of polio and for which countries a vaccination is required. It also explains the dangerous effects of polio, including respiratory paralysis, and the immediacy of attaining a vaccine when traveling. The goal of the CDC is to keep polio at bay in the countries where it already exists. Perhaps without even knowing it, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is promoting a form of containment.
In this light, it appears that containment can save lives and increase global prosperity by protecting outsiders from local disease. This blog specifically looks at polio in "countries at risk for reestablishment." The vaccine is supposed to protect travelers from this sometimes life-threatening disease. Polio can cause paralysis and is most commonly spread through throat secretions. In this case, I believe containment is not only a good idea, but also a necessary precaution.
But what about those who happen to live in these "at risk" countries? Is it our job to provide the vaccine just because we can? Indeed, doing this would save many lives of children - where polio is most common - but just giving people what they need will not help them grow as a civilization. Many organizations (Doctors without Borders, etc) do help out by providing essential medicine because it seems so cruel to withhold it from those in need; however, the reverse is true. The cruelty lies in providing things like vaccinations or primary care and allowing people to become dependent. In the short run, it is wonderful to save a life; in the long run, this can lead to false hope and crippling disease.
So, how do we help? What can we possibly do to end diseases like polio if providing the vaccine will only cause dependency on foreign aid? If the right answer was out there, we would live free of infectious disease already. However, I believe certain steps can be taken to begin the process of ousting some unfortunate aspects of third world civilization. For instance, funding a training program for doctors or setting up hand-washing stations could lead to more knowledge about disease and a cleaner environment.
Certainly, this cannot be fixed overnight. For now, containment of polio and other infectious diseases seems to be the only viable solution. In class, we have only looked at containment in a negative way, but I would like to suggest a discussion in which we look at containment positively. After all, where would we be if not for vaccines that prevent diseases like polio, H1N1 (commonly known as swine flu), and HPV?
I have also been thinking about containment as a positive concept lately, so I enjoy your position here. One thing about vaccines though is that, as they are utilized more and more, the diseases become more resistant causing a constant manipulation of the medicines and a constant strengthening of the infection. So here, it may also be said that just the right amount of containment is super important. too much or too little containment may yield bad bad results.
ReplyDeleteI agree that containment of diseases instead of just supplying all the vaccines and help we can is probably best for both ourselves and these developing nations in the long run. While, like you mentioned, it's nice to help save some lives from paralysis or death, giving too much aid is essentially trying to put a small bandaid on a large wound for these developing countries. Them being dependent on foreign aid will only make it more difficult those countries to learn to be more self-sufficent, and also deplete our own resources. Also, they may not always want our help. Sometimes we meddle too much for our own good.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really cool that you took this angle with it. Everyones been blabbing about negative forms of containment, but this is an obvious form that is overlooked by many. Though certain bodies and immune systems may have formed a way to combat these illnesses without vaccinations, human containment has intervened, and amazingly, prevailed.
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