Though food is a very important factor in disease prevention,there are billions of people in the world who lack the resources to eat an adequate diet. What’s more, many also lack resources to other basic needs, putting them at increased risk for various diseases and conditions. The results can be devastating to the world’s poorest communities.

In September, the U.N. General Assembly will hold a High-Level Meeting (HLM) on global health and the allocation of global funding for the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).  However, most of the discussion will center around lifestyle factors like diet and tobacco use. Though it’s important to address these issues, the world’s poorest billion people are at increased risk of developing NCDs as a result of poverty-related factors like limited access to food, shelter, education and health interventions that are more readily available in developed nations.

You can read more about the UN meeting and the issues at stake in a blog post I wrote for the Partners in Health NYC Community and to sign the petition that Partners in Health has posted urging the UN to focus on poverty-related diseases.

Sometimes it can be hard to imagine the hardships people endure on a daily basis, but healthcare should not be inaccessible simply because someone cannot afford it. The petition takes only a minute to sign and hopefully, we can help make a difference.

Please pass on the info.

Also a worthwhile read: PIH-founder Paul Farmer’s Haiti After the Earthquake. From the organization’s site: In this narrative, Farmer describes the incredible suffering–and resilience–that he encountered in Haiti. Having worked in the country for nearly thirty years, he skillfully explores the social issues that made Haiti so vulnerable to the earthquake–the very issues that make it an “unnatural disaster.” Complementing his account are stories from other doctors, volunteers, and earthquake survivors.