Watching the World
World Faces “Health Catastrophe”
“The world’s biggest killer and the greatest cause of ill-health and suffering across the globe is . . . extreme poverty.” So states The World Health Report 1995, published by WHO (World Health Organization). Half of the world’s 5.6 billion people do not have access to essential medicines; almost one third of the world’s children are undernourished; and one fifth of the global population live in extreme poverty, according to the report. The Independent, a London, England, newspaper, quotes the director-general of WHO as warning of a “health catastrophe in which many of the great achievements . . . in recent decades will be thrown into reverse.”
Reducing Crib Deaths
In the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a program provides all parents of newborn babies with a leaflet informing them of factors that may increase the risk of crib death. After the program was instituted, crib deaths in the state fell by 40 percent, according to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Following similar programs, Australia, England, the Netherlands, and Norway are said to have experienced reductions of as much as 60 percent in such fatalities. This new crib-death awareness program warns parents against laying the baby down to sleep on its stomach, using a large feather bed or a soft mattress, smoking during pregnancy, and exposing the newborn to tobacco smoke.
Coping With Back Pain
Occurring in 90 percent of the people around the world at some time in their lives, low back pain is “the most frequent condition to affect human beings,” according to The Medical Post of Canada. In the majority of cases, however, expensive medical intervention may not be necessary. Dr. Garth Russell, an orthopedist, says that “90% of cases of sudden or acute inflammatory back pain (usually following physical activity) involve only severe muscle spasms of the back, and will respond to two to three days of bed rest.” Thereafter, Dr. Russell recommends, “begin light exercise and resume your daily activities.”
Violent Video Games
Realistic, violent video games are prevalent in the culture of many young people, according to a report in The Vancouver Sun of Canada. The paper cites a study demonstrating that young players become physiologically excited when playing such games. Their heart rate increases significantly—in some cases it more than doubles. Of concern to the researcher was the question, “Do kids keep the violence in the realm of the video game or does it leak into their life”? University of British Columbia education professor Charles Ungerleider believes such games send the message that violence is a way to solve problems. He observes: “It’s a peculiar commentary on society that violent video games are an acceptable form of entertainment.”
Troublesome Viruses
According to an article in U.S.News & World Report, “new plagues as well as old diseases are on the rampage.” Why? A number of factors have increased human vulnerability to diseases, explains Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The factors include the increase in international travel, which results in the introduction of diseases into populations with no immunity. Additionally, what scares people at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), in Atlanta, Georgia, notes U.S.News, “are the mundane microbes, once easily quashed with antibiotics, that have started defeating even the newest and most powerful drugs.”
Effects of a Toxic Environment?
According to The Globe and Mail newspaper, for the first time, Canada experienced an increase in the national mortality far greater than predicted. Instead of the expected 3-percent increase, deaths among Canadians from 1992 to 1993 increased 4.3 percent, the highest increase on record. The figures include a rise in infant deaths, the first in 31 years. These increases are unusual and alarming, according to the report. One Canadian expert was reminded of the death of the canary—used in the past to warn of poisonous gases in mines. “Could this be the first indication that the environment is becoming increasingly toxic?” was the question asked.
Youths Pessimistic About Future
Australia used to be called the “lucky country,” but an increasing number of Australian young people might not agree with that assessment today. The newspaper The Australian, reporting on a study of young people between 15 and 19 years of age, found they had “an ‘apocalyptic’ vision of Australia’s economic future.” Students in their 9th, 10th, and 11th year in state, Catholic, and private schools were interviewed. “According to the report, the findings suggest ‘quite clearly’ that the current generation of 15 and 16-year-olds are ‘not rushing to embrace the future’—believing society is getting more violent and unemployment will remain high,” the paper said. When asked to describe their lives ten years hence, “most of the respondents identified a deteriorating economy and a society in which individuals had reduced control over their economic destiny.”
HIV Carriers Not Told
In Japan some doctors are failing to inform HIV carriers of their infection, and spouses of such carriers have been infected. After surveying 363 of the country’s hospitals and medical institutions, the Health and Welfare Ministry revealed that only 43 percent of the institutions inform all HIV patients of their condition. About 28 percent inform only some of their patients. Some hospitals admitted failing to inform their patients at all, while others declined answering the survey’s question, said The Daily Yomiuri. One main reason given by doctors for withholding information was the “extremely unstable mental condition” of the carriers.
Something New at the Camel Fair
While tourists often look for the unusual when they travel, they themselves may seem quite odd to local residents. The International Herald Tribune reports that Western tourists have discovered what may be the world’s largest camel market in the northern desert city of Pushkar, India. There, the camel traders find their foreign visitors amusing. The Tribune explains that the “camel drivers marvel at this bizarre breed that turns red under the desert sun, views the world through black boxes held in front of their faces [cameras] and is willing to pay $2 (more than two days’ wages for most desert farmers) for an hour’s ride on a lumbering camel.” When asked if the growing number of tourists is good or bad, a camel trader replied: “Good. We like to look at them.”
China’s Eroding Values
“Preoccupation with wealth is threatening the foundation of Chinese society, the family,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “Families are disintegrating, spawning a selfish ‘me generation’ of youths. Crime and corruption are at record levels.” Children who formerly respected their parents now use them as servants and are unwilling to care for them in their old age, says one researcher. Although many in China still hold to traditional values, these are being eroded as millions leave their homes in search of opportunity elsewhere. “Chasing money has become the goal. For money, people are willing to neglect the good, to neglect social morals,” says the public security vice-minister Bai Jingfu.
New Species
Searching for new plant species, British and Brazilian botanists have been exploring a single mountain in northeastern Brazil for over 20 years. So far they have discovered a staggering 131 species that were formerly unknown, all growing within an area of only 66 square miles [171 sq km]. This “garden of Eden,” as the newspaper Folha de São Paulo calls the site, grows on 6,420-foot [1,960 m]-high Pico das Almas in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Botanists checked some 3,500 herbaria to be sure that all these plants were indeed new discoveries—and they were. Simon Mayo of England’s Royal Botanic Gardens told the newspaper: “It is impressive to discover so many plants at the end of the twentieth century.”