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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