New Technology Insufficient to Solve Third World Health Issues

Discovering new treatment methods will not be enough to control disease in developing countries, three Harvard School of Public Health researchers said yesterday at a symposium entitled "Saving Lives in the World's Poorest Countries."

"New technology is only one element in solving health problems woven deeply in the structure of society [in many poor nations,]" said Michael R. Reich, lecturer in International Health. "The general decline in mortality rates in the West have resulted more from public health methods, such as improved sanitation, rather than medical technology."

High costs frequently reduce the effectiveness of new treatments. "Many countries simply do not have the resources [to pay for expensive new treatments,]" said the symposium's moderator Richard A. Cash, a fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development. "Only 20 to 25 percent of the at-risk population are currently immunized [against diseases common in developing countries.]"

Ignorance also hampers the fight against disease. "People may not be able to understand how to use the drugs," Reich said. And education programs don't always work. "It's very easy to say 'educate people not to do certain things,' but even when people know better, [they sometimes say] 'Oh, what the heck,'" said the third panelist, Given Professor of Tropical Health John R. David.

However, not all the news is bad. "Sometimes high tech science brought to bear on common problems does produce a low-cost simple effective treatment," Cash said, citing a treatment for diarrhea--a major child-killer--which uses water, sugar and isotonic salt. This treatment has proved particularly effective because all the ingredients are inexpensive and mothers can administer the medicine to their children.