For millions of years, humans and their ancestors suffered from diseases. Infectious illnesses are caused by contagious pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, parasites …etc and chronic illnesses are caused by our own bodies as they age and degenerate. Regardless, what kind of diseases are we dealing with? We all have once stopped and asked ourselves, why are we facing this? Actually, we caused this to happen. Diseases have existed since the beginning of time, lately, they have evolved and started spreading rapidly and no matter how much we tried adapting with this evolution, we can’t make things right without realizing the actual reason is in our own lifestyle and how much it is affecting this evolution. And while nothing is being done for a safer place for us and our children it’s only getting worse.
Reasons of evolution:
As stated, the lack of awareness and culture in most of us had led to this. Everyday each one of us wakes up and chooses not to live a healthy lifestyle or actually may be one of the reasons other people are not living a healthy one. To start with, a lot of green spaces that are used for agriculture are being taken by industries not only to build their factories and make a significant loss in healthy food resources, but also to pollute the air with harmful chemicals. In addition, we human beings harm each other each day. For example, those who make cigarettes and cigars know how harmful it is but still choose to manufacture it everyday and sell it to more and more people just to make some extra money. And also apothecaries choose to sell medicine that they can benefit from instead of producing helpful treatments that will provide a healthy life and dispense the need of medication. Furthermore, let us not forget to mention the great increase in human population and evolution which makes us need more care resources and health services, especially with having poor ones in the previous period.
Moreover, there are some countries facing poverty which can’t afford the right living conditions for its people like clean water, clean food and other simple necessities for a healthy life.
How to control this evolution:
Each year, millions of people still die from diseases that are medicable or that are easy to treat. The needs of patients and affected communities must be at the center of any outbreak response to be effective. A quick response can greatly affect the number of people who get sick and those who die of disease. Moreover, an outbreak or a disease spread often requires a rapid and significant spread of logistics, which can range from setting up temporary facilities to treat the sick, or improving water and sanitation to help prevent the spread of disease. Above all, people’s awareness about this situation and their efforts to reduce it are the most important things. Also, major cross-sectoral initiatives such as the US government’s Emerging Pandemic Threats program, are making some progress. This program attempts to create national, regional and global “One Health” networks to reduce the risk of disease emergence and improve our ability to detect and respond to these unpredictable beasts. “But this is not enough because the emergence of diseases is largely driven by changes in human societies. The only thing that will change the drivers of disease is a fundamental rethink about how we co-exist with our environment.
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to how we build and feed a global community of 9 billion and not cause an emerging disease disaster along the way.” Said professor Simon Reid in his article about diseases.
The evolution:
Diseases are varied and have evolved throughout time. But it also evolved in their own kind. Moreover, there are some pandemic and epidemic diseases which we have been suffering from for decades or even centuries. Everytime advanced medicine tries to get along with it, diseases evolve and sometimes change its whole structure. For example, we have been suffering from the flu since 1580. It started spreading through Russia and Europe then all around the world. In the 16th century, symptoms started with a runny nose, sneezing and sore throat just like any cold. The only difference was the speed of the appearance of these symptoms. Throughout time, the indicators developed and started being accompanied by fever, muscle pain, shortness of breath, etc… It has been almost five decades and the treatment is only available for some types and not all. The struggle with the pandemic of coronavirus in the world right now is preventing scientists and doctors from paying attention to any other illness but coronavirus which is making us one step late on being where we should be.
Thinking about all the consequences we’re going to live and pay in the future is terrifying, imagine waking up one day and not being able to get out of your house so you won’t be consumed by a big and ugly monster we’ve been feeding called diseases. Only we can stop this and only now with great efforts.
“The only way that we will actually bring health care to every person, everywhere in the world, is if we fundamentally change the system so that governments and people demand more investments in health.”
Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President