Comparing Tuberculosis in North and South America

Tuberculosis, or TB, is a disease that usually attacks the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body which can lead to death. In the past about a couple centuries, Tuberculosis killed more people than any other disease in the world. Today, Tuberculosis is now known as the leading killer of people who are HIV-positive and one of ten highest causes of death around the world. Yet, many people from wealthy households are unconcerned with the disease that has such a high mortality rate. How is it that a disease considered inconsequential to one country can be such a huge problem for another nation entirely? Why does Tuberculosis continue to persist when advancements in medicine have already created treatments for it? This project aims to explain and represent how Tuberculosis persists in the world despite the numerous technological and medical advancements already developed.

Comparing Modern TB Rates (per 100,000)

As shown from the map, countries from North America tend to have very low cases of Tuberculosis whereas countries from South America will average on higher. Peru in particular has and incident rate of 128 per 100,000 people among its citizenship.

This shows that Tuberculosis is not a concern for countries that are developed, but tend to be more prevalent in countries that are still developing. Developing countries suffer from more cases of TB because the level of their health care system is not equipped enough to treat everyone in the country.

USA: 3

Canada: 6

Brazil: 45

Peru: 123

Argentina: 27

Tuberculosis 20 Years Ago

Even 20 years ago, Tuberculosis was still an issue for developing countries in South America while developed countries in North America were just as unconcerned with the disease as they are today. So that begs the question, if North America has already solved its Tuberculosis issue, then why do they not help South America with their Tuberculosis issue.

The answer is in fact more complex than a simple helping hand that North America could give to its South counterpart. In the year 2000, Neoliberal globalization policies were becoming the norm among many developed nations. As a result, health loans were not going to be given to developing countries in South America unless they received proper compensation back and proof that they could use the money to develop a proper health care system.

USA: 6

Canada: 6

Brazil: 45

Peru: 183

Argentina: 37

Funding going into TB (per million)

As shown by this map, not only is the US one of the countries spending the most to counteract TB, but Peru is also one of those countries as well. That's right, America in 2018, spent about US$135 million on Tuberculosis alone whereas Peru spent an even higher US$141 million on the disease. Peru has actually spent more money on Tuberculosis than the US who has much higher capital than Peru.

Yet, on this list of 5 countries, Peru has the highest incidence rate of Tuberculosis among them even though it is spending as much money as one of the highest grossing nations in the world. And the results show in the data from the first two maps in that Peru was able to reduce the number of its cases by nearly 60.

USA: 135

Canada: 27

Brazil: 38

Peru: 141

Argentina: 3

Number of Doctors in each Country (per 10,000)

As this map shows, it reveals the differing approach that can be taken to combat against Tuberculosis and reduce the incidence rate of the the disease through the number opf doctors they employ. In the North American countries, there tends to be a middling number of doctors as the need for medical treatment isn't as severe as the past. In South America, however, the number of doctors tends to vary among the three countries that were chosen for this project.

The most notable is that Argentina has a high number of doctors per 10,000 people compared to Brazil and Peru. Remember to the first two maps how in the span of two decades, Argentina was able to educe the number of incidences by a significant margin as well. Even though it dpends much less to combat Tuberculosis, it was able to reduce cases from 38 to 27 in nearly two decades.

Brazil, on the other hand, has not only few doctors, but also few health expenditures going towards TB treatment. As a result, Brazil has had little to no change in the number of TB cases that it gets each year since 2000. This lack of development in either department has stagnated Brazil's development against the disease compared to Peru and Argentina.

USA: 26

Canada: 23

Brazil: 21

Peru: 13

Argentina: 40

Percentage of GDP used for Health Expenditure

This last map will reveal how overall health expenditures are made in each country. As shown by the United States, not only do they spend the most out of the five countries shown here, the country also spends the second most to combat Tuberculosis.

On the other hand, Peru spends the least percentage of their GDP on health expenditures preferring to spend it on other things such as their economy. Yet they are also the highest spender on TB treatment which means, that a large majority of their health expenditures goes towards treating TB.

USA: 18

Canada: 12

Brazil: 10

Peru: 5

Argentina: 8

In Conclusion

It is no surprise that developed countries from North America suffer little to no cases of Tuberculosis. They have already reached a point with their health care systems that they don't have to worry about bacterial diseases such as TB. They spend whatever amount they feel like against TB because they have the money and resources to spread out among all of their expenditures.

The real surprise of this project comes from analyzing developing countries from South America. One would assume that they would have not as much money to spend to treat TB and that they do not have enough doctors to treat the disease. The reality is that each country is handling TB differently that allows them to combat against it. Peru spends high amounts of money which has helped reduce the overall number of cases in the past 20 years and Argentina has also reduced its number of cases by employing and training as many doctors as it can. The most interesting thing these maps revealed is that Brazil, despite being the largest of the three countries and the most populous, has stagnated in its treatment of Tuberculosis. It has spent little money to actively prevent it and has not trained as many doctors leading to Tuberculosis's continued persitence.

Developing countries are capable of fighting against Tuberculosis just like developed countries. The key to fighting against the disease is by either providing more funding towards health expenditures for the developing country or by training more individuals to be skilled to treat diseases. If I were to choose either one, I believe the most cost effective method for the world and to help everyone reach equal health rights is through the continued teaching of medicinal skills.

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Credit for data goes to the World Health Organization