Illnesses of global importance/Pandemics

This page is under construction and edited by Peter Friedl EMBA09. In case of any questions/remarks, feel free to contact me

Description:

According the World Health Organization WHO, the 10 leading causes of death by broad income group for 2004 were:

Low-income countries, deaths in millions and % of deaths
Lower respiratory infections / 2.94 / 11.2
Coronary heart disease /2.47 / 9.4
Diarrhoeal diseases / 1.81 / 6.9
HIV/AIDS / 1.51 / 5.7
Stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases / 1.48 / 5.6
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 0.94 / 3.6
Tuberculosis / 0.91 / 3.5
Neonatal infections / 0.90 / 3.4
Malaria / 0.86 / 3.3
Prematurity and low birth weight / 0.84 / 3.2

Middle-income countries Deaths in millions % of deaths
Stroke and other cerebrovascular disease / 3.47 / 14.2
Coronary heart disease / 3.40 / 13.9
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 1.80 / 7.4
Lower respiratory infection / 0.92 / 3.8
Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers / 0.69 / 2.9
Road traffic accidents 0.67 / 2.8 /
Hypertensive heart disease / 0.62 / 2.5
Stomach cancer / 0.55 / 2.2
Tuberculosis / 0.54 / 2.2
Diabetes mellitus / 0.52 / 2.1

High-income countries Deaths in millions % of deaths
Coronary heart disease / 1.33 / 16.3
Stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases / 0.76 / 9.3
Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers / 0.48 / 5.9
Lower respiratory infections / 0.31 / 3.8
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 0.29 / 3.5
Alzheimer and other dementias / 0.28 / 3.4
Colon and rectum cancers / 0.27 / 3.3
Diabetes mellitus / 0.22 / 2.8
Breast cancer / 0.16 / 2.0
Stomach cancer / 0.14 / 1.8

World Deaths in millions % of deaths
Coronary heart disease / 7.20 / 12.2
Stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases / 5.71 / 9.7
Lower respiratory infections / 4.18 / 7.1
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 3.02 / 5.1
Diarrhoeal diseases / 2.16 / 3.7
HIV/AIDS / 2.04 / 3.5
Tuberculosis / 1.46 / 2.5
Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers / 1.32 / 2.3
Road traffic accidents / 1.27 / 2.2
Prematurity and low birth weight / 1.18 / 2.0

The World Health Organization WHO, characterises three conditions responsible for the start of a pandemic:

• emergence of a disease new to a population;
• agents infect humans, causing serious illness; and
• agents spread easily and sustainably among humans.

A disease or condition is not a pandemic merely because it is widespread or kills many people; it must also be infectious. That means that cancer, for example, is not classified as a pandemic as it is not infectious.

Enablers:

• Changes in society and human demographics
• Contamination of water supplies and food sources
• Poor populaiton health (e.g. malnutrition)
• International trade
• International travel
• Evolution of the pathogen
• Failure of public health programs

Inhibitors:

Factors which weaken this driving force. (these are actually other driving forces, and you can link to them in the wiki!)

Paradigms:

Changes in ways of thinking about the world due to the driving force.

Experts:

• World Health Organisation
• European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Robert Koch Institut

Timing:

Current pandemics:

• HIV / AIDS
• Swine influenza (2009 influenza A/H1N1)

Important epidemics and pandemics through history:

• Plague
• Cholera
• Typhus
• Smallpox
• Measles
• Tuberculosis
• Malaria
• Yellow fever

Tuberculosis is still one of the most important health problems in the developing world.

Web Resources:

• [1] WHO - World Health Organization

• [2] ECDC - European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

• [3] CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• [4] HealthMap - Global Disease Alert Map

• [5] Diseases - Ignored Global Killers - article on Global Issues