Eiichiro Anan writes:
Today, tuberculosis can be cured by medicine, and
communicable diseases of developed countries have been greatly
reduced. These facts are medical improvements. But, the world has many
health problems too. Firstly, there are many communicable diseases all
over the world and they kill many adults. About 40% of global death
in all ages are due to communicable diseases and 99% of these
diseases occur in developing countries. For instance, Malaria of
communicable disease is the worst health problem in many developing
countries, according to WHO (World Health Organization). Many people
have malaria disease in Africa, around the eastern Mediterranean
Sea,in India, in Southeast Asian nations, South America, etc. Some 2.5
billion people on earth live in these areas, and some million people
die of malaria every year. Secondly, noncommunicable diseases such as
cancer and heart disease account for about some million deaths,
divided more or less equally between the developing and the developed
world. But, in developing countries because there is little or no
medicine, there is a tendency for many people to be sick. Some
preventable deaths happen in the developing world. Poor countries have
three times more preventable deaths than rich ones. In the developing
world, 1 in 2 deaths is caused by communicable disease, whereas in the
developed world 3 out of 4 deaths are due noncommunicable diseases,
many of which are lifestyle-related, such as cancer or heart
disease.Thirdly, smoking is the major reason for some diseases like
Lung cancer; smoking kills 6 people a minute. Smoking is the world's
largest single preventable cause of illness and death. It already
kills 3 million people a year and is expected to kill 10 million by
the year 2020. Fourthly, mental ill-health is at the bottom of the
medical pecking order. Only the most severe cases,such as
schizophrenia or manic depression, receive what minimal care there is,
even in developed countries. For solving these problems,what can the
Japanese medical community doÅHI want to think about it in next
paragraph.
In decreasing communicable diseases in the developing countries, it is
important to improve their sanitation, so we should investigate
sanitary conditions in hospitals, in homes, and in work places. We
have to know what is the route of infection. If sanitary conditions,
for example waterworks, are improved,parasites will decrease. For
infectious diseases, the Japanese medical community in the developed
country must provide developing countries the skills and information
for this kind of disease, and educate medical communities in the
field. And,the Japanese medical community should send some medicine
and personnel to the developing countries that are in trouble with
communicable diseases. And doctors and nurses must go there to be
volunteers. In improving the situation for noncommunicable disease,
it is important to keep a healthy lifestyle. For example, taking less
salt reduces the danger for high blood pressure, or being a
non-smoker can help prevent many types of cancer. So, the Japanese
medical community must tell adults and their children of the harm of
cigarettes and provide up-to-date health knowledge. Communicable
diseases kill people in developing countries. On the other hand,
developed countries are in trouble with noncommunicable diseases. The
Japanese medical community should improve techniques to care for both
types of disease. Medical technology is progressing day by day, but
the availability of this technology is unfairly distributed. For
example, in the developing world there are many diseases which are
preventable if the right kinds of technology were made available. So,
the Japanese medical community needs to help distribute medical
technologies all over the world, and not distribute this technology
unfairly. In short, the Japanese medical community must try to create
and maintain conditions for promoting good health, without distinction
between developed and developing countries.
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