Lectures curated around the issues and challenges of global health, and that examine the diseases that kill more people each year than conflict alone. break - One billion people lack access to health care systems. - Around 11 million children under the age of 5 die from malnutrition and mostly preventable diseases, each year. - In 2002, almost 11 million people died of infectious diseases alone, far more than the number killed in the natural or man-made catastrophes that make headlines. - UNAIDS estimates for 2007 that there are roughly 32.8 million living with HIV, 2.5 million new infections of HIV, 2 million deaths from AIDS. - There are 8.8 million new cases of Tuberculosis (TB) and 1.75 million deaths from TB, each year. - 1.6 million people still die from pneumococcal diseases every year, making it the number one vaccine-preventable cause of death worldwide. More than half of the victims are children. - Malaria causes more than 300 million acute illnesses and at least 1 million deaths, annually. - More than half a million people, mostly children, died from measles in 2003 even though effective immunization costs just 0.30 US dollars per person, and has been available for over 40 years.
A panel of experts open discussions of increasing health risks in a globalized world by talking about possible future pandemics, including the Avian Flu. This lecture is part one in a three part series of discussions from the National Press Foundation's "Increasing Health Risks in Our Globalized World: A Conference for Journalists." Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and associate director of the Department of Homeland Security's National Center for Food Protection and Defense, provides an overview of the avian flu. Rex Archer, president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials discusses American preparations for avian flu and other pandemics, while Olusoji Adeyi, coordinator of Public Health Programs at The World Bank, provides an international perspective on preparation and the need to improve health in developing countries in order to reduce risk of pandemics.
Paul Farmer, a world-renowned infectious disease specialist who has been called a public health Robin Hood, discusses global health equity and the future of public health. Farmer is co-founder of Partners in Health, an international organization that brings the benefits of modern medical science to some of the most impoverished areas of the world. In Haiti, where he spends much of his time, Farmer implemented one of the first HIV/AIDS treatment programs in the developing world. Thanks to the efforts of a tuberculosis (TB) center in Haiti, founded by Farmer, the success rate for multidrug-resistant TB rivals that of hospitals in the United States. He expanded the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB to Peru and Russia, where he has achieved similar success.
American businessman and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney joins moderator Jeff Jacoby, *Boston Globe* columnist, to explore why American strength is essential--not just to our own well-being, but for the world--and how we can move America back to a position of political and economic strength.
