Kazuo Takayama writes:

Many peopie perish from communicable diseases, for example, malalia, cholela, dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever, AIDS etc. The number of victims of parasitic diseases was 20 million, or about 40% of the 51 million global deaths in 1993. And even more, 99% of these occur in the developing countries. Malaria, for instance, is the worst health ploblem in many developing countries, according to WHO (World Health Organization). Many people have malaria disease in Africa, around the easten Mediterranean Sea, in India, in Southeast Asian nations, South America, etc. Some 2.5 billion people on earth live in these areas, and some million people die of malaria every year. The victim are mostly children. That fact is very important. Why is there such a difference between the developed countries with small numbers of victims of parasitic diseases and the developing countries with large numbers? And why do communicable diseases continue to spread?

Basically, the developed countries are rich and the developing countries are poor. So, the developed countries have established health services and organizations to prepare for medical problems. The developed countries, in addition, have sanitary environments. But the developing countries do not have sanitary environments and they have little or no money for providing health care and clearning up the environment or even purchasing medicines. Developing countries have little or no medicine, thus there is a tendency for many people to be sick. So one way the problem can be solved is for the developed countries to send economic aid. However, I think that communicable diseases will continue to spread, because people, especially, people of the developed countries, have little or no knowledge about communicable diseases. AIDS, for example, is a communicable disease that often occurs with people who have no knowledge of how easy it is to be infected with AIDS, thinking it is only a disease among homosexuals, etc. Too make matters worse, possibly, many who suffer from AIDS have not heard the word of "AIDS" at all.

The Japanease goverment helps poor countries by way of the Overseas Development Agency, etc. These organizations support medical care. Doctors and nurses must go to developing countries to be volunteers. But money and manpower are not enough. Japanese medical canpanies must send medicines and personnel. There volunteers can teach people in poor countries basic knowledge of communicable diseases and the way of prevention, ways on how to stop AIDS or other communicable diseases. How to do this?

Firstly, it is important that we must deepen our understanding of the communicable disease conditions, partucularly the conditions in the developing world. Individual understanding can lead us who live in the developed world to co-operate with the community chest and organize volunteers, and further, to appeal to politicians for more understanding. Secondly, as for medical education, medical students must make an effort to make people understand the situation. There are ways to stop the expansion of communicable diseases.

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