A LIFETIME STUDY OF BUGS: IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS TO STOP A WORLD KILLER
Frank H. Collins, PhD, University of Notre Dame
"Millions of people around the world are dying from diseases rare to the U.S. The need for the United States to invest in global health research is crucial-the point here is not how prevalent these diseases are in the U.S. but how Americans should be aware of these stark and stunning disparities. We have simple life-saving interventions that are and can continue to be developed and implemented with committed support."
Frank Collins, PhD, has been fascinated by bugs since he was a boy. An entomologist and global health researcher, Collins has spent 30 years studying insects that transmit diseases, how they transmit disease and what can be done to prevent it. His research focuses mainly on malaria and the mosquitoes responsible for transmitting this disease that kills more than one million people, mostly infants and children, each year. Collins searches for answers to questions like, how transmission is measured and how can he improve on those measurements. He also looks at techniques that control the transmission, such as bed nets, insecticide sprays and anti-malarial drugs and studies how effective they are. One of his most significant achievements has been helping to sequence or map the Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that is the primary transmitter of malaria parasites in sub-Saharan Africa.
Collins knows there is a crucial need for the U.S. to invest in global health research, particularly since there are such wide disparities in the burden of disease between people who live in the United States and the developing world. Less than one percent of all U.S. deaths are a result of infectious disease. In contrast, Collins explains, more than 40 percent of sub-Sahara Africans needlessly die of infectious diseases, diseases that are treatable and curable here in the U.S.
"Millions of people around the world are dying from diseases rare to the United States. The point here is not how prevalent these diseases are in this country but how Americans should be aware of these stark and stunning disparities. We have simple life-saving interventions that are and can continue to be developed and implemented with committed support."
In this ever-shrinking world, Collins knows that a proportion of Americans will be exposed to malaria. He feels even stronger that continuing to build awareness of the magnitude of the global health problem will help people see what he so clearly sees in his daily work - that U.S. support and investment for global health research is vital.