Rep. Hank Johnson, Jr., has reintroduced a bill that would require a report to be filed to Congress every year on “parasitic disease among poor Americans.”
The Georgia Democrat introduced his bill on Thursday with the support of seven other members from both political parties. He last introduced the bill in 2010 with the support of 12 co-sponsors, when it passed the House and stalled in the Senate, according to Johnson’s press release.
The Neglected Infections of Impoverished Americans Act of 2015 would require a yearly report from the secretary of Health and Human Services to Congress relaying the prevalence, threat and impact of diseases in impoverished areas. The report would include recommendations for how to combat the problem as well, read Johnson’s press release.
“It’s unconscionable that a nation as wealthy as ours would tolerate these kinds of health disparities to exist among the poor and otherwise disadvantaged populations,” Johnson said in his press release. “It’s time that we come to grips with these preventable diseases. Good health should not depend on where people live and how much money they make.”
Some of these diseases include “neglected parasitic diseases” including: Chagas disease, cysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, trichomoniasis and other soil-transmitted diseases. The report would “provide the information necessary to guide future health policy” to address these problems, according to the 2010 version.
Peter Hotez, a research professor at George Washington University and president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, D.C., reported that in 2010 up to 3 million black people in the U.S. have toxocariasis, “a parasitic worm infection” related to asthma that can cause developmental issues. He also said that 1 million black women have trichomoniasis, a “parasitic infection of their genital tract,” according to his article in Science Progress.
Hotez said these problems are not discussed because they primarily affect “people of color living in poverty in places such as the Mississippi Delta, post-Katrina Louisiana, the border with Mexico and inner cities.”
“They remain forgotten diseases among forgotten people,” Hotez said.
Hotez worked with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Johnson to propose the 2010 version of this bill.
