Infectious Diseases in the Modern World - Assignment Example

Nearly 6.7 million people died from infectious diseases in 2008 (Shah, 2011). HIV/AIDS has been spreading rapidly across the world and the UNAIDS estimates that in 2008, nearly 33.4 million people have been living with HIV in addition to the 2.7 million new infections and 2 million deaths from AIDS (Shah, 2011). Tuberculosis, pneumococcal diseases, malaria, and measles are other diseases that have caused a significant rise in the death toll worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, some the diseases like malaria are not only the result of poverty but also contribute to poverty because of their impact on social and economic development (Shah, 2011).
Although the world has sufficient resources and technology to address most of the healthcare issues mentioned above, they continue to persist. Improving global health by making known treatments for illnesses accessible worldwide is therefore the key to reducing the burden of diseases. This can be done in several ways:
Developing Partnerships and Sharing Resources: The governments of developed and developing countries across the world should take a proactive step to prioritize and address these global health issues through partnerships and sharing their resources. Active participation of governments will ensure that citizens will enjoy a better quality of life and have hope for a better future. For example, strong political commitment and leadership were key factors in the success of mass campaigns against polio in the Americas (World Health Organization, 1999).

Implementing Global Education and Prevention Programs: Diseases like HIV/AIDS have to be addressed as they spread and before they spread. Therefore large-scale global education and prevention programs should be implemented especially in the poorer countries where 95% of all new infections occur (World Health Organization, n.d.). For example, in India, a concerted nationwide educational program and a condom use and distribution program targeting the high-risk population of long-distance truck drivers and sex workers were found to reduce the rate of HIV in the country by a third (Bridges, 2006). Currently, there are no vaccines available to prevent diseases like HIV/AIDS. Therefore, the focus of national and international agencies should be to educate all people, especially the high-risk population, on ways to protect themselves from this disease.
Reduce Delays Due to Regulatory and Manufacturing Process: Once a promising treatment is determined to be safe and effective, individual governments should try to make it available in their countries by reducing delays caused due to their regulatory and manufacturing process. Such delays can typically run into two to four years which is a long period, considering the rapid rate at which diseases like HIV/AIDS occur (Global Campaign for Microbicides, n.d.). For example, the use of microbicides has shown some promising results to protect against sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. Microbicides are formulated gels or creams which are applied inside the vagina or rectum and are especially useful among sex workers who engage in unprotected sex (WHO, 2012). Currently, there are five microbicides in advanced clinical trials to test for their safety and effectiveness. Making these microbicides available to high-risk populations worldwide at the earliest will help significantly reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV.
Financial Support from the International Community: The developed nations should continue supporting the developing nations with financial resources and other resources to conquer global diseases. These resources are vital in conducting preventive and educational programs, providing treatment, and improving access to care in developing nations.

Conquering the battle against global diseases is the ethical responsibility of every nation. The developed nations have the moral obligation to extend their knowledge and resources to the developing nations. However, in the past, there have been instances where the leaders of developing nations have proved to impede the global fight against diseases like HIV/AIDS. For example, in South Africa, for several years the government ignored the increasing rates of AIDS in the country (Prengel, 2010). Although the country was supposed to be one of the biggest recipients of the global HIV/AIDS treatment programs, President Thabo Mbeki banned the use of antiretroviral drugs, which is a known and effective treatment for HIV (Prengel, 2010). It was only after the activists sued the government and the court ruled unanimously that the government could not deny AIDS treatment to its citizens that the treatment program was made available to the citizens of South Africa (Prengel, 2010). In this case, the unified action of the people was able to ensure that the people of South Africa were able to gain access to the promising AIDS treatment. Read More