these activities, the United States could encourage the 

 exchange of information on programs, technologies, and 

 personnel in the field of water resource planning and 

 management, and assist with short-course or on-the-job 

 training in this field. 



7. Controlling Infectious Diseases of the Tropics 



The impact of infectious diseases in developing 

 countries is enormous. For example, up to 25 percent 

 of African children under five years old die of measles 

 or its complications, and many others are left 

 partially blind or otherwise handicapped. Control of 

 endemic malaria has halved infant mortality rates in 

 some countries. 



Infectious diseases fall into roughly three 

 categories with respect to the knowledge and resources 

 needed to deal with them. The first category includes 

 diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis, for which 

 existing control methods have only limited 

 effectiveness. Control of these diseases will require 

 more extensive research at both the laboratory and 

 field levels. In the second category are diseases such 

 as measles and some nutritional deficiencies, where the 

 chief problem is more effective delivery of control 

 methods that have already been developed. Cholera, 

 diarrhea, and typhoid, among others, are a third 

 category of diseases which are exacerbated by 

 malnutrition, large and poorly spaced families, and 

 unsanitary living conditions. Here innovation in 

 medical technology is less important than social change 

 and progress in providing pure water. An important 

 need is for more social science research on involving 

 communities in new forms of health-related activities 

 and developing more effective delivery systems for 

 preventive health information. 



To provide a focus for research on these problems, 

 we recommend that the United States create a new, 

 highly visible program to improve understanding, 

 prevention, and treatment of the infectious diseases of 

 the tropics. Such a program could be established 

 either by creating a National Institute for Infectious 

 Diseases of the Tropics, or by providing an appropriate 

 mandate and funding for an intensified program at the 

 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 

 one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which 

 already has many of the relevant research capabilities. 

 In either case, the program would deal primarily with 

 the needs of developing countries, although U.S. 

 benefits would include protection of U.S. citizens 

 working or traveling abroad, reduced need to deal with 

 infectious infestations from abroad, and advances in 



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