2011-07-04T04:06:00.000-07:00

THIRD WORLD

THE FUTURE

· Predictions for a

future-growing world

By 2000, there could be 22 cities in the world whose populations exceed 10 million, 18 of which will probably be in the Third World. It has been predicted that water consumption from rivers could be so high that five of the world’s biggest rivers (the Nile, the Ganges, the Amudar’ya, the Yellow River, the Colorado River) may no longer empty into the sea for months at a time.

· Global population continues

to swell, despite hunger

With the world’s population fast approaching 6 billion, sustenance is a crucial problem. Half of the people on Earth already do not have enough food, and as the global population increases at a rate of 90 million a year three times the population of Canada food producers are being put under mounting pressure. In 1990, Britain managed to reach its target of producing more food than it consumes.

· WHO issues warning

on global TB crisis

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the number of tuberculosis cases will be rising by between 7 and 10 million each year by 2015. Countries which are most affected include South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Mexico. Many richer countries have been criticized for failing to invest enough money in combating the disease. Other countries such as Peru have had success with the directly observed therapy, short course (DOTS), which involves supervising patients throughout a six-month combination drug course.

DRUG AID

· Sugar-glass beads

aid drug transportation

Minute beads of sugar are set to smooth the journey for much needed medical supplies across the developing world. In the past, medication has reached remote areas of Africa, Asia, and South America along complex cold chains of refrigerators, to ensure that the molecules in drugs do not lose their structure or degrade through dehydration and pharmacologists are perfecting ways of keeping medicines in suspended animation with glass like beads of sugar.

· Vaccines could save

a million infants each year

Rotaviruses were not discovered to be a cause of infant diarrhea until 1973. Every year five million infants die from diarrhea, and 20% of all those deaths are caused be rotaviruses this represents a million deaths each year caused by a germ which we have only been able to recognize for a generation. Several research teams are currently striving to produce an efficient vaccine against rotaviruses. A vaccine need not necessarily be 100% effective in order to work efficiently, and latest trials show 70% effectiveness.

PREVENTION

· South Africa focuses

on primary health care

In an effort to reduce the pressure on hospitals and improve access to Health care in South Africa, the government has shifted the focus towards primary health care and increased the number of clinics around the country, Pregnant women and children under the age of six are given free medical attention at these clinics and people loving in informal settlements and rural areas are being given better access to health care for the fist time.

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THIRD WORLD