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conferenceseries.com
Volume 9 Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy Addiction 2018
November 12-13, 2018
November 12-13, 2018 Dubai, UAE
9th International Conference on
Addiction & Psychiatry
Sadia Shakeel, J Addict Res Ther 2018, Volume 9
DOI: 10.4172/2155-6105-C3-042
Disease mongering: A psychological move towards an illness
Sadia Shakeel
Dow University of Health Sciences, Pakistan
Disease mongering is the selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness in order to growmarkets for those who sell
and deliver treatments. It is a process that turns healthy people into patients, causes iatrogenic harm, and wastes precious
resources. Disease mongering is the contemporary form of “medicalisation.” It is a process now driven by both corporate
and professional interests, and it has become part of the global debate about health care. International consumer groups
now target drug company–backed disease mongering as a wasteful threat to public health, while the global pharmaceutical
industry has been forced to defend its promotion of “lifestyle” medicines for problems like slimming and sexual difficulties.
Pharmaceutical firms are inventing diseases to sell more drugs, researchers have warned. "It is exemplified mostly explicitly by
many pharmaceutical industry-funded disease awareness campaigns - more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or
to inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health. Disease-mongering promotes non-existent
diseases and exaggerates mild problems to boost profits. A key strategy of the alliances is to target the news media with stories
designed to create fears about the condition or disease and draw attention to the latest treatment.
Biography
Sadia Shakeel obtained her M.Pharm (Pharmaceutics) in 2009 from University of Karachi, Pakistan and awarded doctorate degree in Pharmacy practice in 2017
from Jinnah University for women, Pakistan. She is a Clinical Research Certified Professional from Dow University of Health Sciences. She is currently rendering
her services as a Faculty member in Dow College of Pharmacy, Dow University of Health Sciences, one of the oldest public research university located in urban
metropolitan area of Karachi, Pakistan. She is a prolific researcher and author. She has authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and
several research abstracts / research posters to her credit.