PLoS NTD features in Nicholas Kristof’s Op-Ed about Guantanamo

Last year, Peter Hotez published an editorial in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases in which he proposed that rather than just close the prison at Guantonamo Bay, we instead establish a “center of excellence on the diseases of poor that … would directly address poverty and health disparities in the worst-off nations in Central and South America and the Caribbean”. The meat of his proposal is:

America has an enormously impressive track record of developing and testing life-saving vaccines and drugs. It is therefore surprising that American leadership in biomedical sciences and its remarkable legacy for saving lives abroad has never been embraced as a meaningful component of American foreign policy. The US spends approximately $100 billion annually on health research and development, including $28 billion by the NIH and $57 billion by industry.

The neglected tropical diseases represent some of the most important poverty-promoting disease conditions. By establishing a center of excellence on the diseases of poor, at Guantanamo, the United States Government would directly address poverty and health disparities in the worst-off nations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Such a center could conduct translational research to develop new drugs and vaccines for neglected diseases, possibly in collaboration with research institutes and public sector pharmaceutical manufacturers in some of Latin America’s so-called innovative developing countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico. It could also promote clinical research and take on the control of some of the more pressing public health threats in the Caribbean region, including vector-borne diseases such as dengue. It would serve as a vital resource for training physicians, scientists, and public health experts, and meet an important demand for training in applying appropriate technology to global public health practice.

Through a focused initiative on lymphatic filariasis and schistosomiasis, a well-resourced biomedical institution located at Guantanamo could lead a path to eliminate these scourges from the Caribbean region [16] and forever wipe out an important element of slavery’s legacy [10]. The facility could even take on some neglected tropical diseases that remain important yet often hidden public health problems among the economically disadvantaged and under-represented minorities living in the US, such as cysticercosis, dengue, leptospirosis, toxocariasis, and congenital cytomegalovirus infection and toxoplasmosis [17].

Now Nicholas Kristof is picking up the charge. He concludes his recent Op-Ed on how to appropriately deal with the legacy of Gitmo, “Putting Torture Behind Us“, with a plug for Hoetz’s proposal:

Imagine if people around the world came to think of Guantánamo as a place where America led a battle against hookworms and leprosy. That would help us fight terrorism far more effectively than the prison at Guantánamo ever did.

Hear, hear.