The kidney disease epidemic in El Salvador
There is a health crisis in El Salvador and other Central American countries which has been greatly under-reported. Chronic kidney disease is killing thousands in the region, and the causes are not known. At a regional health conference in February 2011, El Salvador's Health Minister Dr. María Isabel Rodríguez spoke of an epidemic of chronic kidney disease afflicting the country, where kidney disease is now the leading cause of hospital deaths for men aged 20 to 60 and the third leading cause of death for women. One in four men living in coastal areas has the disease. Recent news reports from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a project of the Center for Public Integrity, together with PRI have now highlighted this epidemic. From the report by the Center for Public Integrity titled Thousands of sugar cane workers die as wealthy nations stall on solutions : Each year from 2005 to 2009, kidney failure killed more than 2,800 men in Central Ame...