How a mysterious epidemic of kidney disease is killing young men

Here's a vastly better article about the same situation in Guatemala. Just let your browser translate it for you.

https://no-ficcion.com/hasta-que-los-rinones-aguanten/

The root of the issue (apart from corruption, oppression, lack of educational system etc...) is that they get paid next to nothing so they have no choice but to do strenuous work for crazy hours - in intense heat and humidity, with inadequate hydration and nutrition, and insufficient sleep - in order to survive.

That is, of course, impossible. So they get by with a cocktail of painkillers and energy drinks, which then obviously just kills them.

Surely anyone could figure that out in a few days of just observing how the people live, even if the actual cause of illness/death - kidney failure - might not have been as obvious. I suppose that's what eventually happened once a lot of young men started presenting with kidney failure - but it took such an extreme situation for anyone to care at all.

There's also the problem that these countries are utterly addicted to sugar and caffeine. People often literally speak with pride about how much soda and energy drinks they consume - completely unaware of the issues they cause (diabetes, kidney issues, obesity, tooth rot, etc...). They get offended when I politely decline their honorable (and expensive) offer of soda when I visit their homes. If they push me on it, I say and explain that "it's poison", which obviously just confuses and offends them further.

The solution seems obvious as well - pay them more, as well as provide actual education so that, at the very least, they aren't having too many children at too young of an age. Then they wouldn't need to work so many hours, and have some conception of healthy living.

That won't happen though, due to corruption, oppression etc - they prefer an incapable, ignorant, and even less efficient underclass to one that can take care of and think for itself.

Kudos to the guys, though, for actually sticking around and providing for their families - there's also an epidemic of complete deadbeat dads who abandon their families, leaving an uneducated woman who has even fewer job prospects to raise them.

For example giving half of workers a water bottle and telling them to fill it with water and keep it on their person all day.

See if those workers have better kidney function at the end of the year. Simple dehydration could be an easy fix.