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Tourists 'should pay' $1 to help fight diseases

28/05/2008

Tourists to the Caribbean should pay $1 (51p) to help fight tropical diseases associated with poverty, a US medical expert has argued.

Professor Peter Hotez from George Washington University and Sabin Vaccine Institute said the $1 fee could be charged as an airline or cruise ship tax or a tax on tourist entry.

The money, he claimed, would provide a funding mechanism for Caribbean countries to control endemic neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

His suggestion is outlined in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

"Despite the enormous amount of wealth infused into the Caribbean economy every year through tourism, very little if any trickles down to the poorest people in the region who suffer daily from chronic, debilitating, disfiguring, and stigmatising NTDs," Professor Hotez said.

He outlined how four countries in particular have a high burden of NTDs: Dominican Republic; Guadeloupe; Haiti; and Jamaica.

Diseases include whipworm and lymphatic filariasis.

In addition, the Caribbean region also has high rates of schistosomiasis and of the intestinal worm hookworm.

These diseases were most likely introduced into the Caribbean through the Atlantic slave trade and such infections still occur almost exclusively among people living in poverty or people of African descent.

"Given that industry is either donating the NTD drugs, or they are available as low-cost generic drugs, these last vestiges of American slavery could be controlled or eliminated for a ridiculously small amount," said Professor Hotez.

In addition to his proposal of a $1 tourist tax, Professor Hotez put forward several other possible funding mechanisms, including increased funding commitments by local governments or donations from North American and European governments and private foundations.