Thursday, March 28, 2024

Yvette Carnell Calls on Rep. Terri Sewell to Answer for Hookworms Affecting African Americans

*Political commentator Yvette Carnell is showing the power of black politics. After a powerful show last night on the harm new cases of Hookworms are inflicting on African Americans throughout the south. Carnell called upon Rep. Terri A. Sewell to pivot from focusing on DACA, to addressing the needs of her constituents that suffer from hookworms.


In response to a tweet storm by Carnell’s Breakingbrown following Rep. Sewell appears to have released this tweet calling for action.

This is black politics in action!

Support Rep. Terri A. Sewell in her fight against poverty diseases like hookworms that are affecting the community. Retweet the above, and read more about the crisis below.

Excerpt from the Guardian “Hookworm, a disease of extreme poverty, is thriving in the US south. Why?”

The study, the first of its kind in modern times, was carried out by the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in conjunction with Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise (ACRE), a non-profit group seeking to address the root causes of poverty. In a survey of people living in Lowndes County, an area with a long history of racial discrimination and inequality, it found that 34% tested positive for genetic traces of Necator americanus

The parasite, better known as hookworm, enters the body through the skin, usually through the soles of bare feet, and travels around the body until it attaches itself to the small intestine where it proceeds to suck the blood of its host. Over months or years it causes iron deficiency and anemia, weight loss, tiredness and impaired mental function, especially in children, helping to trap them into the poverty in which the disease flourishes.

Hookworm was rampant in the deep south of the US in the earlier 20th century, sapping the energy and educational achievements of both white and black kids and helping to create the stereotype of the lazy and lethargic southern redneck. As public health improved, most experts assumed it had disappeared altogether by the 1980s.

But the new study reveals that hookworm not only survives in communities of Americans lacking even basic sanitation, but does so on a breathtaking scale. None of the people included in the research had travelled outside the US, yet parasite exposure was found to be prevalent, as was shockingly inadequate waste treatment.

We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!

YOU MAY LIKE

SEARCH

- Advertisement -

TRENDING