Change in Your Pocket
Measles outbreaks have become relevant in developing and war torn countries,
but has also come back in developed nations due to anti-vaxers. Jason McDonald, a spokesperson for the Center of Disease Control and prevention stated in a report to Time Health (2) that, "If you are unvaccinated and you come in contact with measles, there's a 90% chance you will get it.” It is very difficult to get vaccinations into war torn areas such as Ghouta, Syria, especially after the recent Sarin attack. As reported in Syria:Direct (1) giving vaccinations to fix the problem just isn’t enough as “even when the Syrian Arab Red Crescent delivered scores of vaccines to East Ghouta...doctors said the amount was “hardly enough” to treat the area’s unvaccinated population.” This is a bandaid solution and the issue of vaccine preventable diseases as a whole becomes relevant in developing countries. This means that there is a dire need for a social innovative solution as current solutions to this social issue just aren’t effective enough.
A website by the Measles and Rubella Initiative educates the reader on measles, and points out that a $2 donation will vaccinated a child. It goes to point out that, “large outbreaks [are] still reported in Angola, Ethiopia, Somalia, India and Russia” (3). This is a great example of a social innovative solution, and leaves little to edit or add on to, as my ideal socially innovative solution is to educate and inform individuals in developed countries on the effects measles are having on developing countries, and to inform the individuals in developing countries the deadly effects measles will have on them and their children in order to get them to become vaccinated, as most are reluctant to do so as I stated in my previous article. This is simply a stepping stone to containing the resurgence of this disease. We would also need to find more effective ways to deliver the vaccinations as well as get it into the right hands of groups that will properly and effectively administer it. We would also try and get the UN or at least the United States involved in order to deliver these vaccines as well as find faster ways to administer them such as airborne solvents that can be sprayed over heavily affected areas. Although this is a social innovative solution I do believe there is room for improvement as there is for every solution that arises. We cannot become complacent with this solution or its results as complacency is devastating and it will be more than just metaphorically so when it comes to this issue.
Works Cited
Amman (2017). Hundreds of children infected as measles outbreak ravages east Damascus suburbs, ‘not enough’ vaccines. Retrieved from http://syriadirect.org/news/hundreds-of-children-infected-as-measles-outbreak-ravages-east-damascus-suburbs-%E2%80%98not-enough%E2%80%99-vaccines/
2. Sifferlin, A. (2014). 4 Diseases Make a Comeback Thanks to Anti-Vaxxers. Retrieved from http://time.com/27308/4-diseases-making-a-comeback-thanks-to-anti-vaxxers/
3. (2001). Measles and Reubella Initiative. Retrieved from http://measlesrubellainitiative.org/learn/the-solution/
