Poverty, dignity, and forgotten skin care: dermatology in the stream of human mobile population.
Skin diseases represent the greatest public health care problem in all developing countries. Tropical diseases tend to cluster in poor populations and often are defined as "neglected" because the investments made to combat them seem negligible compared with the massive amounts expended globally on the health problems of developed countries. After reviewing the worldwide situation, this article explains the principles of community dermatology and discusses the work of the San Gallicano Institute in Rome, which has developed a model for reducing the number of people suffering from dermatologic and other diseases and has established the first dermatologic hospital in Ethiopia.
Morrone
Aldo
A
Department of Preventive Medicine of Migration, Tourism, and Tropical Dermatology, San Gallicano Institute - IRCCS, Via di San Gallicano 25/a, 00153 Roma, Italy. morrone@ifo.it
D000047:Academies and Institutes / Q000458:organization & administration; D003906:Developing Countries; D005002:Ethiopia; D006303:Health Services, Indigenous / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D011203:Poverty; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors