Red Cross Says Infectious Diseases Reaching 'Disaster' Proportions

July 1, 2000

LONDON, Jun 29 (Reuters) - Earthquakes and floods capture the headlines, but

the uncontrolled spread of infectious disease takes a far higher toll in

human lives, according to a Red Cross report released Wednesday.

The death toll from diseases such as AIDS, malaria and diarrhoea is 160

times greater than the number killed in last year's natural disasters,

including the earthquakes in Turkey, floods in Venezuela and cyclones in

India, according to the World Disaster Report by the International

Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC).

, director of disaster policy, said: " Once a disease like AIDS

reaches the kind of proportions we see in sub-Saharan Africa, it is no

longer a disease; it is a disaster. Such a widespread disease destroys the

workforce and shatters the economy. "

While infectious diseases have claimed the most lives, they are also the

most preventable disasters. The report said that most of last year's 13

million deaths from infectious disease could have been prevented at a cost

of $5 per person.

The report said that governments are abandoning their responsibilities for

preventive health care at the same time that growing urbanisation, climate

change and environmental damage increase public health risks.

" Governments are slipping on their responsibilities for immunisation and

basic preventive health care, " said Dr. Hakan Sandbladh, senior health

officer with the IFRC. " But pouring money into national health systems is

not cost effective because 70% of it gets siphoned into big hospitals, " he

added.

Changing people's behaviour saves more lives than spending money on

expensive equipment and hospitals, the report said. It recommended community

health programmes to vaccinate children against preventable diseases and to

encourage people to protect themselves from malaria by using treated bed

nets and from AIDS by using condoms.

Recommended Posts