21st century is not doing good

[fire_mat99]

When it comes to understanding biology and finding cure it seems the 21st century we are going back in time.

 

disease,AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria each kill over a million people annually. HIV remains without a cure or vaccine, and is growing rapidly in India and much of the African continent. Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for organisms such as tuberculosis. Other diseases, such as SARS, ebola, and flu variations, are also causes for concern. The World Health Organization has warned of a possible coming flu pandemic resulting from bird flu mutations.

 

World Health Organization deaths

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_killer

 

By disease, conditions (Excluding abortion and euthanasia)

Ischaemic heart disease 7,208,000 13%

Cerebrovascular disease 5,509,000 10%

Lower respiratory tract infection 3,884,000 7%

HIV/AIDS 2,777,000 5%

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 2,748,000 5%

Perinatal conditions (low birthweight, birth asphyxia, birth trauma) 2,462,000 4%

Diarrhoeal diseases 1,798,000 3%

Tuberculosis 1,566,000 3%

Malaria 1,272,000 2%

Trachea/bronchus/lung cancers 1,243,000 2%

Road traffic accidents 1,192,000 2%

Childhood diseases (pertussis, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus) 1,124,000 2%

Diabetes mellitus 988,000 2%

Other unintentional injuries (besides road traffic accidents, poisoning, falls, fires, drowning) 923,000 2%

Hypertensive heart disease 911,000 2%

Self-inflicted injuries (suicide) 873,000 2%

Stomach cancer 850,000 2%

Cirrhosis of the liver 786,000 1%

Nephritis/nephrosis 677,000 1%

Colon/rectal cancer 622,000 1%

Liver cancer 618,000 1%

Violence 559,000 1%

Breast cancer 477,000 1%

Esophageal cancer 446,000 1%

Inflammatory heart disease 404,000 1%

Alzheimer and other dementias 397,000 1%

Falls 392,000 1%

[SkepticLance]

The death rate for all humans is the same - 100%.

 

It matters not what we die of. Only two things matter.

 

1. How well we live.

2. How long we live.

 

On the latter, there has been a continuing increase that still continues to increase. In spite of all the deaths mentioned above, average human life span, even in third world countries, continues to grow. In Japan now, the average life span for women is now in the mid 80's. In most of the west, for men, it is close to 80.

 

For the former, there is an increasing gain in material standard of living. While money does not buy you happiness, the lack of money buys a hell of a lot of misery. That source of misery is diminishing as standard of living rises.

 

I would say the the 21st Century so far is doing OK.

[geoguy]

Good response Skeptic.

 

Turn the clock back a century and the deaths from infections rise exponentially. Most of us had relatives who died of TB, pneumonia, scarlett fever....even gangrene, yellow fever in America, etc.

 

Everyone dies. We're living longer before we die. If you think a higher % of folks die of infectious diseases each year then you need to do some homework. aids and Malaria are NOT big killers in India. India has a billion people and some perspective is needed. China has 1.3 billion. the USA 300 million.

 

The population of Africa is increasing, not decreasing. Malaraia, small Pox, Sleeping sickness used to wipe out whole regions and leave them uninhabitable. This century has by far the least % of the population subject to death via infectious dideases.

[JHAQ]

Perhaps the measure of "doing good " is longevity ( not so good in some places perhaps) . Imagine living in the middle ages --and in the days of the black death .