Endemic and epidemic diseases in Third World countries - Essay Example

Endemic and epidemic diseases in Third World countries The term endemic in biological perspectives, translate into a disease that is constantly present within a certain population. In this case, the infection never disappears and the number of people getting affected does not increase greatly. Epidemic diseases refer to those infections that affect a large number of the population in a very short time. Endemic diseases show low rate of infection but are always present, while an epidemic affects a large number of people within a short span and disappears after some time.

Malaria is endemic in many parts of the world while bubonic plague that killed many in the middle ages is epidemic. Large numbers of such diseases are seen in the third world countries today, owing to a lack of proper health and hygiene practice in the ways of living of the people, lack of proper medical services, and also due to poverty. Many diseases that are commonly seen in these countries are air and water borne, like dysentery, malaria, polio, typhoid and cholera. Another disease which is now taking the shape of a great epidemic is the HIV-AIDS, especially in the African belt.

Here there have been reportedly more than 2 million deaths in 2000, and now around 70% of all AIDS cases are said to be from Africa. Thus, AIDS has become an epidemic in Africa and is still spreading with women being more affected than men are. As Shanmuganandan tells us, “It is observed that the epidemiological situation is precarious in some regions of the Third World such as African parts of Caribbean and Latin America. Cases of AIDS have almost doubled in the Asia-Pacific region. Africa is the leading continent.

It is also inferred that the regions identified to report with a higher prevalence rate are Brazil, The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, the countries included are Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, The Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand”( Shanmuganandan, AIDS in Third World Countries: A Geomedical Study). Without proper treatment and medical facilities, HIV-AIDS continues to spread mercilessly.

Dysentery is another disease that continues to affect thousands in the third world countries due to poor lifestyle practices. As Macfarlene comments “Dysentery is of major importance in most non-western societies, as anyone who has spent time in a Third World country today knows… If we take just amoebic dysentery In 1981, it was estimated that there were about 480 million infected people in the world: 290 million in Asia, 80 million in Africa, 90…” (Macfarlene, 1). Malaria seen in almost all tropical third world countries is an endemic disease.

Tuberculosis is another serious disease that is still seen in many third world countries. As Grzybowski observes “ The World Health Organization estimates that about 1722 million people…are infected with tubercle bacilli…the largest number of cases is in Asia the highest incidence rate is seen in Subsaharan Africa” (Grzybowsk, 689). Effect on the societies, economies and development prospects of Third World states: In the third world countries AIDS, tuberculosis and other air and water borne diseases tend to weaken the State as a whole.

For people falling prey to such diseases, they tend to lose their physical vitality and thus cannot work to earn. Children losing their parents to these diseases, fall into abject poverty, leading to incomplete education. Lack of physical vitality and education leads to fall in social and economic conditions of these people. This has led to a blank future for many, as prospects disappear owing to a shrinking economy. Investors tend to avoid countries that lack basic infrastructures and show a record of repeated epidemics that kill many.

As investors disappear, economies fall, so do the developmental progress in a country, as we have seen in many African and other Latin American countries. Thus, we find that health, social and economic progressions are all linked together. To have improved social conditions and low rate of mortality the primary requirement is to have a basic health structure that functions properly and efficiently. This creates an atmosphere that is conducive in nature, thus, inviting investors to come into that country.

Good health conditions also enable the local population to actively take part in many entrepreneurial ventures leading to better and stable economic conditions in a country. The third world countries due to lack of a basic medical structure, and unhealthy and unhygienic lifestyles of its people, often miss the progress and development seen in the western countries. The developed countries also need to provide the basic monetary fund for bettering the health system in these under developed countries.

Time has come for all countries in the world to act together and fight against diseases and create a better and healthier world. Works CitedGrzybowski, S. Tuberculosis in the Third World. Pub Med Central journal list. Thorax. 46(10): 689–691.October 1991. Web. 15th February 2010. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC463383/?page=3Macfarlane, A. Food and Water -Borne Disease. 2002. Web 15th February 2010.  http://www.

alanmacfarlane.com/savage/WATER.PDF.Shanmuganandan S, Subramanian PT. AIDS in third world countries: a geomedical study. International Conference on AIDS. Int Conf AIDS.  Jun 4-9; 5: 1003. 1989. Web. 15th February 2010. http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102181229.html