Expanding the Role of Dermatology at the World Health Organization and Beyond
EDITORIAL A Seat at the Big Table: Expanding the Role of Dermatology at the World Health Organization and Beyond y patient can’t breathe. From across Kaposi’s sarcoma, seborrheic dermatitis, her- the busy, open ward, you can see the pes zoster, scabies, papular pruritic eruption, Mplaques of Kaposi’s sarcoma riddling eosinophilic folliculitis, tinea, molluscum, drug her skin. The impressive woody edema has reactions, and oral candidiasis (World Health enlarged her legs to the size of small tree trunks. Organization, in press). These conditions have We don’t have access to confirmatory pulmo- a high prevalence in developing countries, but nary testing in Kenya, but she probably wouldn’t many lack internationally agreed-on standards survive a bronchoscopy anyway. of care. This deficit led to inconsistent and some- When she dies six hours later, we can be pret- times dangerous treatment approaches or lack of ty sure that it is her pulmonary Kaposi’s sarcoma, essential drugs. Critically, dermatologists were along with her underlying HIV, that killed her. involved at all levels of the guideline-develop- Her family tells us that she had dark spots on ment process, including Cochrane reviews of the her skin and swelling in her legs for more than literature, guideline development and review, a year before she presented to the hospital. Like and additional funding for the project from many of our patients in East Africa, she sought the International Foundation for Dermatology help from a traditional healer for many months (http://www.ifd.org). before turning to the biomedical health system, Although diseases such as Kaposi’s sarcoma only hours before her death.
[Show full text]