The world is shrinking, trust me.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Here's the link to the article:http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=1527

It was not just one step that China decided to make that allowed SARS to be so rampant in China, but in fact, a series of same mistakes which ultimately resulted in the deaths of so many Chinese. The same mistake which is withholding information about their SARS status during the early period that had caused the disease to turn into an epidemic at a much greater pace.

Globalization could have been their friend and might have even been their saviour if that had let international organizations such as the World Health Organization know about their situation earlier. Globalization can work both ways. As SARS was a fairly new mutated virus, if China had released more information about their SARS statistics, then countries all over the world could have used all the information they had to fight the battle against SARS and perhaps find a way to save the SARS infected patients. It is only when countries across the globe do their part by giving out whatever information they have that we can see the true power of globalization to aid us. However, if every country were to do what China had done, then even with the help of globalization, there would be little progress.

In the later part of the SARS outbreak, where many countries were being invaded by the virus, it was also because of globalization that the SARS virus was being able to be contained. Researchers all over the world had begun to study the virus and exchange their findings with one another. Although to this date, no cures have yet to be found for this virus, globalization has allowed us to understand more about SARS in a way faster rate than without it.

When a country like Singapore had safely been able to successfully prevent the virus from spreading to the doctors and nurses working in the frontlines, others in the medical field all over the world followed suit. They followed the way we took preventive measures and sure enough, there were lesser and lesser incidents of the virus infecting the doctors and nurses. Without globalization, would the different countries all over the world have found the way to prevent SARS from spreading to others so quickly?

With increasing globalization, the mobility of people also increases. Many people travel across countries for work making it easier for the SARS virus to reach other countries. This is a global virus and to contain it, it must be contained globally. It is no use if developed countries successfully contain the virus whilst the virus continues to spread rapidly in developing countries. The virus will eventually just reach the developed countries again. So, these developed countries must take it upon themselves to help countries with insufficient medical facilities so that the virus can be contained across the globe. This is the power of globalization.

In the same event, globalization has shown itself to spread the virus more quickly and yet also help in the combat against SARS. If we plan to combat an epidemic such as SARS, then we better make full of what globalization has to offer us- and China should have learnt its lesson by now.

Janice Fan
The Environmentalist/ Health expert

Labels: disease, globalisation, health, SARS

Globalised @ 8:00 PM

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Let's take a look at some of the statistics of obesity rates in the world today by clicking on this link --> http://www.annecollins.com/obesity/worldwide-obesity.htm

A quick look at the statistics and one would realize that there is an increasing trend in the obesity rate of people across the globe, not just in the United States, but also in third world countries like Africa. One would think that obesity would only affect first world countries as they are the ones who have sufficient income to spend on food. However, the increase in obesity also occurs in developing countries- but for a totally different reason.
First, let us display more statistics to prove this trend in developing countries. Kosrae, one of the four states in Micronesia in Papua New Guinea has 88% of its adults overweight, and 53% out of this number are obese. So how is this made possible when Papua New Guinea is one of the most rural countries in the world today?

The culprit is none other then globalization. Globalization has the power to change the diets of all people. With globalization, importing and exporting goods internationally are made possible with the help of modern transportation. And this is precisely the reason for the increased number of people being obese everywhere. More and more countries are working towards a wage-based economy which has caused them to be more reliant on imported foodstuff. This also explains why Kosrae is now in such a dire predicament. Before globalization took place, local food such as fish would come in fresh and be consumed, but right now, the locals there would go for packaged food lacking much needed nutrient. So what happened to the local food? Again, blame this on globalization. Federated States of Micronesia had sold its fishing rights to Japan in the year 1993.

With the existence of Mutinational Corporations (MNCs) and mass production, the prices for these imported processed foods will be lower than others. People living in poverty will therefore go for these foods as they are cheaper but all these foods are usually high in calories which will also inevitably compromise their nutrient levels. In the past where the rich will usually consume majority of the fat, it is now vice versa, where the poor are consuming majority of the fat content and accompanying obesity will always be diseases such as diabetes, cancer and nutritional deficiencies as stated in the article, putting a toll on their health.

However, it is also unfair to say that globalization has done wrong to every single individual. With changes, there will always be bound to have two sides of the story. Whilst it is true that globalization has caused obesity across the globe, it has also improved food security. The 2004 tsunami in Ache, Indonesia, caused hundreds and thousands to die and left many more homeless and starving. Without the food aid of neighboring countries such as Singapore and the United States, many of the homeless would not have survived the ordeal and be on the road to adapting to their new lives. On a side note, it is also because of globalization that made it possible to send rescue workers to help tend to the injured and clearing of debris and corpses to prevent the outbreak of a disease.

All in all, it can be argued that globalization both benefits and harms us. It depends on which aspect we are looking at and from whose point of view. Globalization can be seen to harm the people in Kosrae, but can also be seen to save the lives of the people in Ache.

Janice Fan
The Environmental/ Health Expert

Labels: food aid, Globalization, health, obesity

Globalised @ 4:53 PM