Every single day over 7,400 people are newly infected with HIV, 5,500 die from aids related illnesses, and every 45 seconds malaria kills a child (Kripke, 2015). These are just a small portion of the myriad of diseases overtaking our world and largely the lower resource countries of the globe.
The reality of those living with disease in lower resource countries
With each day that goes by, more and more families and children are attacked or effected by these diseases. Knowledge about HIV is the first step to avoiding transmission and infection, yet this knowledge is hardly spread. Only one third of young men and only a fifth of young women are educated with basic facts in regards to the virus. There are more than 17.5 million children in lower resource countries who have lost either one or both parents due to aids. It has also been found that half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, with an estimation that there were 863,000 deaths due to malaria in 2008. These numbers are greatly affected by that fact that most people who could benefit from available preventative tactics including treatment do not have access to them. Only around 7 percent of around 6 million people who desperately need treatment receive it, and the number of those in need increase by around 8,000 each day. All hope is not lost as the number of new HIV infections continuously fell from 3.5 million in 1996 to to 2.7 million in 2008. Deaths from aids related illnesses dropped from 2.2 million in 2004 to 2 million in 2008 (Jordan, 2019). Free access to treatment, insecticide treatment distribution, and educational programs are just a few examples of the small-scale improvements and efforts made.
Efforts made to reduce Malaria Outbreak
However, with this improvement new infections are consistently on the rise and must be consistently controlled and combatted against. It is evident that even with some improvement global efforts have not proven to be sufficient in controlling the spread of these diseases or extending the lives of the many that are infected daily.
Works Cited:
Bertozzi, Stefano. “HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment.” Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. 2nd Edition., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1970, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11782/.
HIV/AIDS: MSF medical response. (2019, October 7). Retrieved from https://www.msf.org/hivaids.
Jordan, Rob. “Poverty as a Disease Trap.” Medical Xpress – Medical Research Advances and Health News, Medical Xpress, 3 Sept. 2019, medicalxpress.com/news/2019-09-poverty-disease.html.
Kripke, G. (2015, April 24). The Secret Malaria Project. Retrieved from https://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/2015/04/the-secret-malaria-project/.
The State of Global Health 