Global issues - World Health

Question 1

Where is malaria found?

Answer 1

• Near the equator
• In developing countries
• High rainfall areas where the average temperature is greater than 16°

Question 2

Causes of malaria

Answer 2

• Vector - Female anopheles mosquito carries the plasmodium
• Shade - After a blood meal, mosquitos go to shaded areas to digest (houses)
• Cimate - Hot and wet regions
• Temperature - Between 10° and 40°, the optimum is 26°C
• Stagnant water - Mosquitos need stagnant water to lay their eggs (paddy fields and water barrels)
• Pregnant and malnourished people get malaria
• Increased trade and tourism increases the spread of malaria

Question 3

What are the effects of malaria on the country

Answer 3

• Reduced rate of development due to lack of healthy people working
• Money spent on caring for victims
• People can’t work
• People forced to move away from marial areas
• Life expectancy reduced

Question 4

Preventative measures (disadvantages)

Answer 4

• Antimalarial drugs - the parasites have become resistant so the drugs have to be constantly redeveloped
• Drain breeding grounds - impossible to drain all puddles and potholes
• Insecticide (DDT) sprays - pollute environment, mosquitos become resistant, expensive
• Fish - added to water to eat larvae, they can’t live in all small stagnant pools
• Education - people still have to live near water
• Insecticide treated bed nets - developing countries can’t afford them
• Mustard seeds - larvae stick to seeds, causing them to sink. Waste of food crop

Question 5

What are the effects of malaria on the people

Answer 5

• Headache
• Fever
• Stomach pain
• Kidney failure
• Death

Question 6

Causes of HIV/AIDS

Answer 6

• sharing a needle with an infected person
• unprotected sex with an infected person
• breast milk

Question 7

Factors increasing the spread of AIDS

Answer 7

• war
• lack of education
• breakdown of the law

Question 8

Consequences of AIDS

Answer 8

• Adults become ill, leaving the money earning to the younger generation
• Prevention, detection, and treatment is expensive so people can’t afford it
• People die younger, there are fewer taxpayers & less production

Question 9

Treatments and control of AIDS

Answer 9

• ARVs (antiretroviral drugs) - stop the virus replicating & turning into HIV, not enough trained staff to administer them
• Condoms - stop the spread by unprotected sex, hard to obtain in out-of-the-way areas, not infallible. In some places they aren’t free
• New needles per patient - stops transfer by using used needles, unfeasible in poor health centres or drug addict neighbourhoods
• Cheaper tests - it becomes easier to find out if you have AIDS (so you don’t have kids, testing facilities are poor, people avoid them because of the stigma
• Education - raise awareness to help prevent unprotected sex and needle, illiterate people can’t read and there can be lots of languages

Question 10

Causes of heart disease

Answer 10

• Too much fatty food - increases cholestrol and narrows arteries
• Lack of excersise - excersise reduces blood pressure and heart rate
• Smoking - nicotine increases heart rate and blood pressure
• Inheritance - high blood pressure can be inherited
• Stress - increases blood pressure and causes an increase in the consumption of fatty foods

Question 11

Methods of control of heart disease

Answer 11

• Advanced treatments
• Regular medical checkups
• More excersise
• Better diet
• Reduce stress
• Stop smoking