Global and Low-Resource Perspectives on ME/CFS
The published evidence on ME/CFS comes almost entirely from high-income countries, yet the conditions that trigger it are global. This chapter examines six dimensions of ME/CFS in global and low-resource settings: the hidden post-infectious fatigue burden in regions with high infectious-disease prevalence, cultural variation in symptom expression and illness labeling, diagnostic access without specialized testing, ICD classification and disability recognition outside high-income countries, traditional medicine approaches with evidence syntheses for interventions available in LMIC settings, and research priorities for closing the global evidence gap. The chapterβs central argument is that the absence of ME/CFS data from a country does not imply the absence of ME/CFS in that country β it implies the absence of diagnostic infrastructure, research capacity, and epidemiological surveillance.
Consequence: Until ME/CFS is studied in the countries most affected by the infectious diseases that trigger it, global prevalence estimates systematically underestimate the true disease burden, and patients in those countries remain invisible to health systems, disability programs, and researchers.
1 Contents
- The Hidden Burden: Post-Infectious Fatigue in High-Infectious-Disease Settings
- Cultural Variation in Symptom Expression and Illness Labeling
- Diagnostic Access: Clinical Diagnosis Without Specialized Testing
- ICD Classification and Disability Recognition
- Traditional Medicine Approaches: Evidence from Systematically Reviewed Interventions
- Research Priorities for LMIC Settings
- Counterarguments and Epistemic Constraints
- Research Directions: Closing the Global Evidence Gap
- Synthesis