PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Douthit, Nathan T
AU  - Alemu, Haimanot Kasahun
TI  - Social determinants of health: poverty, national infrastructure and investment
AID  - 10.1136/bcr-2016-215670
DP  - 2016 Jun 22
TA  - BMJ Case Reports
PG  - bcr2016215670
VI  - 2016
4099  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2016/bcr-2016-215670.short
4100  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2016/bcr-2016-215670.full
AB  - This case presentation of a 19-year-old Ethiopian woman diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma reveals the barriers the patient has to medical treatment, including poverty and a lack of national infrastructure. The patient lives a life of poverty, and the outcome of her illness is a result of her being unable to overcome barriers to accessing health care due to inability to afford transport, lodging and treatment. In this case, the patient's vulnerability to disease due to her poverty is not overcome because of lack of infrastructure. The infrastructure fails to develop because of inadequate investment and other delays in building. The end result is that the patient is vulnerable to disease. Her disease process impacts her family and their contribution to Ethiopia's development.