Stem-Cell Research has Enormous Potential to Help the Developing World
Stem-cell research could have an enormous impact on the burden of disease in the developing world, according to a new study by Abdallah Daar (McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, University of Toronto) and colleagues, published today in the prestigious journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine.
Eliminating the need for costly insulin injections for diabetics, regenerating heart muscle after it fails, and improving resistance to disease by engineering immune cells topped a list of developing-country health scourges that could be combated through developments in regenerative medicine.
The study says regenerative medicine has the potential to help developing countries address a suite of disastrous health problems, foremost among them a diabetes epidemic.
However, the study notes that in developed countries, where most of the cutting-edge science research occurs today, health-related priorities differ greatly from those of developing countries, which therefore should develop their own expertise and capacity.
Stem-cell research has enormous potential to help the world’s poor, but only if it is directed toward developing-world priorities — which are often very different than those in industrialized countries, the researchers write.
