Social costs of Chagas' disease are huge for peoples of Latin America. It is a debilitating disease that fatigues peasants, especially those working at higher altitudes, where they often must stop farming their plots or leave the work to relatives and children. The inability to work results in decreased crops, which cause malnourishment that leads to susceptibility to Chagas' disease. Even more costly, many adult victims die during their most productive years. (This is documented as Disease Adjusted Life Years, or DALYs.) Children are left without mentors and families without breadwinners. Remaining members of the community then must assume responsibility for the survivors. For this reason, Chagas' disease is a major obstacle to development in Latin America. The World Bank considers it the fourth most serious health problem in Latin America as measured by years of life lost adjusted for disability.

Social stratification creates divisions in Latin America that are difficult to bridge. Chagas' disease is mistakenly considered a disease of peasants and Indians, as if T. cruzi respects class differences. Rich and middle classes do not recognize that vinchucas inhabit their houses, as easily as cockroaches invade ours. Argentineans call chagas "The Unrecognized Disease," being not only detected but considered something "others" suffer, especially poor people and peasants. Social stratification combines with racism in Latin America to influence the political economy that represents upper classes and whiter races and that neglects supporting chagas campaigns identified with lower classes (Indians and peasants). Because Latin America is targeted for investment and tourism, information about contagious diseases, such as chagas, might deter this.