VCU Libraries and MCV Campus Programs Office host Perspectives on Global Health with Dr. Tadataka Yamada

By Chris Landrum
VCU Communications and Public Relations

Tadataka Yamada, M.D., offered a clear message as he discussed global health care issues: “If your drive is to improve patients’ lives, you will find the people who need you.”

Yamada, president of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program, spoke at Virginia Commonwealth University last week and offered insight into the developing trends in global health care and the work of the Gates Foundation in developing countries.

His lecture, sponsored by the VCU Libraries and the University Student Commons & Activities, addressed a broad range of topics, including HIV treatment and prevention, monetary investments in medicine and emerging medical trends in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yamada, a former resident with the School of Medicine’s Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, urged the audience to understand the health situation in Africa, and how it affects not just Africa, but humanity as a whole.

“The life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is less than 50 years,” said Yamada. “There are over 1,500 medicines sold worldwide, and only 30 are directed toward two-thirds of the world. This is a moral tragedy, keeping people back from reaching their full potential.”

Yamada went on to describe “the lasting consequences of inequity,” stressing that only one preventable disease is needed to cripple societies. He cited tuberculosis, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic and the pandemic flu as examples of potential outbreaks due to poor health care practices that could cause an international crisis.

“In times of economic crisis, emerging markets pull up our markets, so take care of them,” said Yamada.

Yamada stressed that HIV remains the worst of all the medical problems he cited. He compared HIV to polio to illustrate the importance of creating a vaccine.

“Polio was a burden,” Yamada said. “Hospitals were created just to house the iron lungs some patients needed to breathe. Millions of dollars were spent on treatment. The March of Dimes was created, and people were outraged that instead of spending money on treatment, the March of Dimes collected money for a vaccine. Well, they got the vaccine, and the cost was pennies per patient.”

He compared this to HIV, which had afflicted about 3 million patients at the onset of 2009. The world is falling behind every year, according to Yamada, and a vaccine must be developed. Unfortunately, he said, HIV research is emblematic of the pitfalls of medical research. Without completing nearly all of the research, researchers do not receive grants, and if researchers challenge dogma they do not receive money, according to Yamada.

“We must address these issues proactively,” Yamada said, criticizing the peer-review system currently in place. “Innovation is needed, and innovation has no peers.”

Yamada discussed the work of the Gates Foundation and its distribution of medicines in Africa.

“We have a two-person board,” said Yamada, referring to Bill and Melinda Gates. “We can respond immediately to opportunities or situations. We are apolitical, so our money comes without an IOU attached. We are willing to take risks and fail.”