![]() In contrast, HIV/AIDs, caused by a virus discovered in the same year as the Lyme disease bacterium, received 100 times more funding from the National Institutes of Health than Lyme disease’s meager $30M 2018 budget. There is an urgent need for better Lyme disease and tick-borne illness prevention, diagnosis, and treatments. And the proliferation of disease-carrying ticks continues to worsen with climate change and the migration of birds, mammals, and pets, spreading disease across country borders. Medical costs for Lyme disease are estimated to be between US$712M to $1.3B each year in the U.S. There is no vaccine or reliable testing for Lyme disease and the recommended treatment protocols fail patients somewhere between 10% to 36% percent of the time. Reported cases of tick-borne diseases have doubled in the last 13 years. alone, Lyme disease cases have risen steadily, hitting a record annual high of 475,000 in 2019. In the last few decades, the health impact of tick-borne diseases has reached alarming levels around the world. Invisible International’s top priority is to lessen these threats by addressing the scourge of vector-borne illnesses like Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. Wildfires, red tides, and epidemics are all symptoms of an ecosystem out of balance. These places of healing are now fraught with danger in our era of rapid environmental change. Equity gaps in these areas can effect an entire invisible population, or a subset of one, and can significantly shape a person’s experience of invisible illness.Ī walk on the beach at sunset. We recognize that this state often intersects with inequities related to other factors, such as race, gender, sexuality, class, citizenship, and vulnerability to climate change. feel invisible to the world and alone in their sufferingĪt Invisible International, we strive to deepen our understanding of the root causes of the suffering associated with invisible illness.cope with chronic illness, pain, and disruption to their lives, and they are unable to fully flourish.experience stigma, marginalization, bias, and/or discrimination from a variety of sources, including medical practitioners and health systems, employers, government agencies, and society.suffer from illnesses for which we lack widespread, effective practices of diagnosis and treatment, as well as insufficient public and private funding for research.Typically, people who experience an invisible illness: These are patients who fall through the cracks of our medical system because their illnesses are not well understood, or even acknowledged. Invisible illness is a term that we use to describe the experience of people whose conditions are largely “unseen” by the medical community. And we hope you’ll join us in our mission to help. We want to help society understand their plight, increase research funding for their illnesses, and empower these people to obtain the just and equitable health care that they deserve. Our motivated scientists, physicians, and changemakers have one thing in common-commitment to bettering their lives. Invisible is working to lift this cloak of invisibility by shining a light on their needs through medical education, research, and community empowerment. In our profit-driven society, there is little patience for these time-consuming, difficult cases, so these citizens are often abandoned by the health-care system. Their inability to live a normal life leaves finances in ruins, and families and friendships fractured. Other factors, such as race, gender, class, citizenship, and climate change, can worsen their situations. They also experience stigma, marginalization, bias, and discrimination from the medical system, employers, government agencies, and society. The suffering of those with invisible illnesses goes beyond pain and dysfunction. Society has chosen to turn away from their suffering, leaving these people invisible, alone, and without hope. There are many labels for these invisible illnesses-Lyme disease, long COVID, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue, environmental illness, depression, and more-but on some level, they are all one. These illnesses are typically not well understood by the medical practitioners, who are working in a system that hasn’t yet developed effective diagnostics, treatments, or cures. Invisible illnesses are conditions where a person’s pain and suffering are hidden from view. ![]()
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