By Emily, Ellie, and Kelly

 

 

 

This page is about the health of the world. As you saw on the FrontPage, this project is based on the book If The World Were A Village by David J. Smith. In this book, the world is reduced to a village of 100, with one person equaling 64 million; to make numbers easier to comprehend, and make percentages easier. Of course, with so many people in the real world, compared to the imaginary village, the numbers have to be rounded a lot, and sometimes this changes their meaning. In this wiki, we aim to go above and beyond the data in the book. ~ Pete and Katherine 

 

 

Welcome to the Health area of our wiki. We have put information on this page that we've found in books, and different websites.

Enjoy our page!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Different Diseases of the Global Village

 

“Chance favors only the prepared mind”-- Louis Pasteur

 

In this section of Diseases of the Village you will find out about some diseases that are very powerful when it comes to lowering the Human Population.  AKA, they kill, or used to kill, many people every year.  Unfortunately, we could not supply information for every disease known to man, but here is a link to a page that has all of them, so click here for a list of all diseases.  We have also found the top killers in developing countries.

#1 Lower Respiratory Diseases ? cases a year

 

#2 HIV/AIDS 39.4 million cases a year

 

#3 Malaria 515 million cases a year

 

#4 Diarrhea 4 million cases a year

 

#5 Tuberculosis 2 million cases a year

 

#6 Measles 30 million cases a year

 

#7 Whooping Cough 20 million to 40 million cases a year

 

#8 Tetanus 500,000 cases a year

 

#9 Meningitis over a million cases a year

 

#10 Syphilis 12.2 million cases a year

 

 

 

 

Smallpox (Variola major)

 

 

 

Smallpox has been a major deal to the Global Village. In the 20th century, smallpox killed about 5 people in the Village. The problem with smallpox is that it is spread very easily, just by touching anything an infected person has touched. Sometimes, smallpox can even be spread through air, but only in enclosed spaces. Even if you survived smallpox, ¾ of survivors become blind. But today, smallpox is not as much of a threat to the Global Village, as in 1977, it was eradicated.

 

                                                        

Malaria

 

 

 

Malaria has been a serious disease for a long time. Malaria is spread through infected mosquito bites. Each year, 350-500 million cases are reported each year, but not even one person in the Global Village dies from it each year, even though a child dies of malaria somewhere in the world every 30 seconds.  Of course, this adds up to be 1,051,200 children die of malaria each year It is usually found in Africa, and has caused Africans to take serious precautions before going outside.  Through the years, people have found that bed net's treated with insecticide, or spraying DDT on the walls (yes, DDT is an outlawed insecticide that can harm salmon and osprey) can repel and kill mosquitoes.  But only 2 percent of children in Africa sleep under bed nets, as the cost several dollars.

  Fortunately, there are now anti-malarial drugs that you can take to prevent malaria. 

WARNING:  Some drug resistent forms of malaria have been found, so you may be requiredto take multiple shots.

 

                

 

HIV/AIDS

 

 

 

HIV is a deadly disease that usually causes AIDS, a condition in which the immune system is horribly deteriorated and does not work properly.  This causes the victim to become prone to other diseases and is likely to die from them. HIV can be transferred through blood and use of contaminated syringes. HIV is currently a big killer in Africa, and it kills many each day. HIV is not like many other diseases, not necessarily killing the victim, but weakening them so other diseases can finish them off. It’s the perfect team player in the world of epidemiology.  Scientists are racing to find a vaccination, and once they do, if they do, the world shall celebrate.  

 

 

                                                                    

 

Rabies

 

 

 

 

Rabies is a disease that attacks the nerves in the brain, and is very deadly. Rabies can live in all mammals, including humans, and most people who become infected got it from infected canines. Most cases are reported from Africa or Asia, mainly because the vaccine is relatively expensive. 30%-50% of rabies cases are in children 15 years old or less. Horribly, most people who die of rabies die at home rather than at a hospital, making a lack of records occur, making research a bit harder. But the vaccination has helped weaken the threat of this disease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Influenza

 

 

 

Influenza can be known as one thing that most people call it. The Flu. Now, you must be thinking ‘Why did these people put the flu in this section? I thought these diseases were dangerous?’ Well, this section is for diseases that are dangerous, and actually, the flu is dangerous. You may not believe me, but what your aunt had last month was not the flu. That was simply a set of flu-like symptoms with the danger taken out. The flu causes what your aunt had, but with an onset of pneumonia. The flu has caused a pandemic epidemic (the disease’s threat was spread all over the world). This disease is so powerful because it mutates and can create new strains of itself that causes the vaccines to not work against them. So that’s why you have to get flu shots a lot more than any other disease. There is another form of influenza called avian influenza that is the only form of the flu that can live in birds, and it can spread from bird to bird, bird to human, but not human to human or human to bird. But it is still very deadly.

 

                       

Hepatitis

 

 

 

Hepatitis is a dangerous disease that infects the liver. There are many forms of the disease. Here are some of them.

 

 

 

Hepatitis A

 

Hepatitis a is simply what is said above. It is not as dangerous as the other forms.

Hepatitis B

 

This form of Hepatitis is a lot more dangerous than Hepatitis A. Once infecting the liver, it can cause scarring of the liver, liver cancer, failure, and death.

 

Hepatitis C

 

Is a form of hepatitis spread through contact with blood of an infected person.

 

Hepatitis D

 

Is similar to Hepatitis B, and needs Hepatitis B to exist.

 

Hepatitis E

 

Hepatitis e is very similar to Hepatitis A, but does not occur in the USA as much.

 

 

 

Polio

 

 

 

Polio is a deadly disease that has been feared since it has plagued the people of the earth. Polio is a weird disease, as most people with it don’t know they’re sick, as it won’t create symptoms. But the most deadly form of polio is paralytic polio, which causes muscle paralysis, or death. But, with the vaccine, polio has been almost wiped out from the western side of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a super cool website about the best hospitals in the USA, so click hereto see the best hospitals.

 

 

Who in the Village has the Best Health Care?

 

The chart below shows the countries with universal health care.

Notice how even some of the richer countries do not have the health coverage, including the United States, and a good portion of the countries in Asia. The countries with at least some type of universal health care (the countries in dark green) are some of the other more wealthy countries, including, Russia, Canada, Australia, some of South America, and most of Europe. Some of the countries that are attempting any type of universal health care (the countries in light green) are a few in Asia, one in southern Africa, Mexico and a few others. There are two countries in orange, which both have universal health care provided by the U.S.A.'s war funds. Those two countries are Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

 

        Health coverage is extremely important. When someone gets really sick they need a doctor and even more importantly, medicine. Sometimes a person will be sick, and there is no one or nothing to help them. They are often uneducated, and the only thing they know about is what their mother has taught them about it. Often all they can be given is a little bit of food, some water, and a few kind words.

       Pretend that you are living in an isolated village. You become sick. But all is not lost; there is a small hospital nearby! You walk many miles on a wide dusty road. You have no shoes, and your feet become calloused and scratched. You are very tired and weak from the long walk. When you arrive at the crowded hospital, you sit down in a dirty room. After you wait for a few hours, a woman walks up to you and checks your heartbeat. She takes a few other tests on you, all with battered tools. She frowns, and then tells you grimly that you are suffering from a type of malaria. She tells you she would like to help but she does not have the materials she needs to treat you. You are too tired and you are unable to make the long journey back home, so you fall asleep in a nearby tent. Chances are you won't wake up.

      Many times this happens, the people that this happens to spend a long time in a tent, or any other shelter that they can find, because they are to sick to walk back to their home. There is barely any chance to survive, and a good percentage of the time they will literally curl up and die. I'm not saying that this always happens to people suffering from malaria, it can happen with any disease, malaria, malnutrition, etc. This is so bad, that about 15 million people die from these circumstances each year. That means, that in about ten years, two people in the global village will die from it. That's two people, out of only 100.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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