Human News

The number of deaths due to visceral leishmaniasis is about 2 million/decade. The average life-years lost may be about 30, giving 60 million life-years lost. The fraction of deaths prevented by paromomycin may be 25%, for a total of 15 million life-years saved.

The number of deaths due to diarrhea is about 20 million/decade. Since children are the main victims, the average life-years lost may be about 50, giving 1 billion life-years lost. The chance that the Institute may develop an effective diarrhea treatment might be 20%, and the fraction of deaths prevented by such a treatment might be 25%, for a total of 50 million life-years saved.

The total number of life-years saved over a decade is 65 million. The potential for treatments for other diseases may add 50% to the life-years saved. Thus, the number of characters should be 100 million life-years / 40,000 life-years/character = 2500 characters. The article has 2100 characters plus a photo equivalent to 400 characters.


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