Understanding global security - Peter Hough
Understanding global security - Peter Hough
Understanding global security - Peter Hough
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HEALTH THREATS TO SECURITY<br />
Table 7.2 The ten most significant <strong>global</strong> infectious disease threats<br />
Disease Cause Main areas affected Annual<br />
deaths<br />
1 Lower Influenza and pneumonia virus Global but most deadly 3.9 million<br />
respiratory passed by coughing and sneezing in LDCs<br />
diseases<br />
2 AIDS Virus transmitted by bodily fluids Global but principally 2.9 million<br />
Sub-Saharan Africa<br />
3 Diarrhoeal Various diseases carried by India, China, Sub-Saharan 2.1 million<br />
waterborne viruses, bacteria and Africa<br />
parasites (e.g. cholera, dysentery,<br />
e. coli )<br />
4 Tuberculosis Bacterial infection transmitted by LDCs, principally Africa 1.7 million<br />
coughs and sneezes<br />
& SE Asia<br />
5 Malaria Parasites transmitted by mosquito The ‘Tropics’ 1.1 million<br />
6 Measles Virus affecting children Global 0.8 million<br />
7 Hepatitis B Virus transmitted via blood Global but principally 0.6 million<br />
(e.g. sharing needles) causing Africa & E Asia<br />
liver diseases<br />
8 Tetanus Bacterial infection affecting babies LDCs in Asia and Sub 0.3 million<br />
and mothers during birth due to Saharan Africa<br />
unsanitary conditions<br />
9 Pertussis Bacterial infection of the lungs Africa 0.3 million<br />
(whooping<br />
cough)<br />
10 Meningitis Bacterial infection transmitted by Global but most deadly in 0.2 million<br />
human contact<br />
Sub-Saharan Africa<br />
Source: Figures from Murray et al. (2001).<br />
diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), against disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes<br />
and tsetse flies. The defence against disease was strengthened by significant medical<br />
advances that discovered and refined antibiotics, such as long-acting penicillin, which<br />
could directly attack the microbes themselves or immunize whole vulnerable<br />
populations against threatening diseases. Coordinating this joint strategy was a new<br />
<strong>global</strong> body set up as part of the United Nations, the World Health Organization<br />
(WHO).<br />
A WHO-led immunization campaign entirely eradicated smallpox in 1978,<br />
saving around two million lives a year, while the use of DDT in WHO-led operations<br />
quickly curbed the annual death toll attributable to malaria to a similar degree<br />
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