Translation:
Phrase of the year from the Nobel Prize winner in Medicine
In the current world, we invest 5 times more money in medicines for male virility and in silicone for women's breasts, than we do for healing Alzheimer's disease.
In a few years, we will have old women with big boobs, old men with hard penises, and none among them that can remember what those are for.
This is HILARIOUS - that's for sure. But it does highlight a very true and very sad problem in medicine. Medicine is a business. I wish it were just a humanitarian effort, but sadly in the world today people do not trade a chicken for a checkup, or a tire change for their child's immunizations. Nor do many people invest their time, energy, and money in something that will not end up making them rich and famous.
So drug companies and medical research focuses on the wow factor - the sexy things that can really sell. They think about what the upper class with lots of money and lots of insurance might pay for - and they ignore the things that won't make them rich. That is probably why we have not found a cure for Alzheimers, HIV, tuberculosis, or other illnesses that one might deem "just a matter of aging" or "that doesn't happen in my town".
Close your eyes for a minute and imagine what the world might be like if every child in the world was born with the same opportunities, and the same health that you and your children enjoy? Imagine what ideas and creations, and developments, and ingenuity all those little souls could produce? And then imagine if our elderly were afforded the ability to age with dignity. To not lose the memories and experiences of a lifetime, leaving them to live out their last days in a locked hallway, where friends and family seldom visit due to the pain of seeing someone they love look back at them with completely blank eyes.
Imagine the potential, and what an amazing world this would be, if the phrase " we are all created equal" were literally played out in the healthcare field.
Just a few rambling thoughts from a "radically socialist crazy Canadian doctor lady" while I rub my growing belly and think about the world to come for this wee bean.
Pamela
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