By David Walton Harvard Medical School's pre-clinical curriculum has some telling blind spots. During the first two years, we mostly discussed diseases prevalent in the United States and other developed nations. Other, more common diseases among the world's population were discussed less frequently. Tuberculosis, say, was only given four hours of attention. They failed to mention that many rare diseases in the United States are significant causes of morbidity and mortality around the globe.
Infectious diseases remain the world's single most common cause of death.
Complications of HIV infection have joined tuberculosis to become the leading cause of young adult death in many parts of the world. Even in the United States, treatable infections continue to kill the poor. In one cohort of New York City welfare recipients, TB and HIV were leading causes of death. It was as if the first two years of medical school were taught with blinders on, keeping diseases that affect the poor and marginalized out of view. Haiti humbled me, brought tears to my eyes, and lit a fire in my heart.