Safer editorials!

And I had to settle for this. (as opposed to the Economics of Religion essay in the last blog)
I loved it as well, but its just so... Well for one you dig up numbers from other's surveys. Then you use researched trends as well. Not original enough in my book, even though you work just as hard to write it!

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Humanity has borne witness to a multitude of grave issues in the span of recorded history. On one side are the problems created by mankind, ranging from large scale wars, to massive genocide campaigns, the use of nuclear weapons and global climate change induced by deforestation and greenhouse emissions. On the other side are issues that nature has provided of her own largesse - from calamities like tsunamis and earthquakes, to diseases and non-human triggered destructive weather patterns.

It would be unfair to prioritize these issues based on casualties or causes, although there is one issue which has been growing in proportion alarmingly in recent years and is still eluding the focused attention of the world. This is the threat of communicable diseases (CDs). A recent study by the World Bank estimated that annually more than 10 million deaths worldwide are caused by CDs.

Even though there has been a very structured approach to known CDs during the 20th century, there are variants and newer diseases that have sprung up. While immunization and antibiotics were successful in eradicating small pox and widely controlling polio, newer diseases like HIV and newer strains of TB & malaria continue to wreak havoc. According to the world-bank survey, HIV has infected more than 60 million people worldwide and already claimed 20 million victims, and that TB is responsible for over 1.7 million deaths alone each year.

Changes in human demographics, dramatic increase in international travel and development of variant strains of microbes have made CDs a world wide phenomenon today. SARS and Avian Flu are two recent examples of global outbreaks of CDs that impacted countries throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. Richard Preston’s “The Hot Zone” is a rude awakening to the reality that even a traditional safe zone like the Unites States is not insulated from the risk of extremely lethal and highly contagious diseases like Ebola and Marburg.

Today, international economics are closely linked to local public heath. In 1994 during the pneumonic plague outbreak in India, international travel came to a near stand still, resulting in millions of dollars in lost trade. A similar situation ensued during the 2003 SARS outbreak in S-E Asia. Today, more than ever, there is a need for global action to identify, control and prevent CDs.

For humanity to solve this problem, greater investment will be required in vaccine research, development and distribution. Global coordination in obtaining funding for research, in sharing the benefits of global R&D, and also in implementing disease prevention measures is another key step.

Several international agencies are currently involved in combating CDs. But the money, research and solutions available today are no where close to the scale of what is needed to really solve the problem. The World Bank, one of the largest financiers of international disease control programs committed $334 million in 2006. Compare this to the $441 billion dollar US national defense budget in 2006.

The need of the hour is a key revaluation of our priorities at a global level. The time has come to pool our resources, research and intellect to fight this gravest of threats to humanity.