If you live, you will die...but when?
I know this sounds alarming and for all of us it is a dire consequence that we all must face! The simple truth of the mater is that if you live, you will die! In reality through it is an all too serious numbers game. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) data for 2004, 2,398,343 people died. While during that same year there were 4,115,590 births in the U.S. Not quite a two to one ratio, but close. At this rate we won’t need to worry quite as much about the death rate! This data shows births at a rate of 14 per 1000 population while death rates are approximately 8 per 1000 during that same year. Still seems we are moving towards global population overload, right, well not necessarily.
The death rate in the U.S. in 1940 was approximately 1 million less than it was in 2004** but when compared per thousand as we showed above the rate was 10.7. This shows that we have come a long way with our medical research and care, but are we moving forward wisely? We’ve eradicated or greatly reduced the number of illnesses or diseases that contributed to the mortality rates during the 1940’s, however, we have seen many new illnesses and/or maladies take their own prominent place and add to the mortality rates in recent years.
The troubling and curious piece to this puzzle is that even though we are living longer here in the U.S. and the birth rate is two times the death rate, the short sightedness of this theory is that while we continue to improve upon our healthcare system (for the most part-there’s a whole other article in here about the pitfalls and shortcomings of our system here) , in many parts of the world, the death rate is beginning to impinge upon the birthrate and when mass genocide, famines, wars, and pestilence is added in, we cant hope to continue to turn a blind eye to the needs of the rest of the world just because our resources are being utilized in Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world.
“Of the 57 million deaths in 2002, 10.5 million were among children of less than five years of age, and more than 98% of these were in developing countries.” Also this… “Reviewing the latest global health trends, this chapter finds disturbing evidence of widening gaps in health worldwide. In 2002, while life expectancy at birth reached 78 years for women in developed countries, it fell back to less than 46 years for men in sub-Saharan Africa, largely because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For millions of children today, particularly in Africa, the biggest health challenge is to survive until their fifth birthday, and their chances of doing so are less than they were a decade ago. This is a result of the continuing impact of communicable diseases. However, a global increase in noncommunicable diseases is simultaneously occurring, adding to the daunting challenges already facing many developing countries.” These are direct quotes from the WHO’s paper from 2003 entitled Shaping the Future. ***
Just my thoughts and I welcome yours.
* http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm ** http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/pdf/mortality/nvsr54_13_t01.pdf *** http://whqlibdoc.who.int/whr/2003/9241562439.pdf
The death rate in the U.S. in 1940 was approximately 1 million less than it was in 2004** but when compared per thousand as we showed above the rate was 10.7. This shows that we have come a long way with our medical research and care, but are we moving forward wisely? We’ve eradicated or greatly reduced the number of illnesses or diseases that contributed to the mortality rates during the 1940’s, however, we have seen many new illnesses and/or maladies take their own prominent place and add to the mortality rates in recent years.
The troubling and curious piece to this puzzle is that even though we are living longer here in the U.S. and the birth rate is two times the death rate, the short sightedness of this theory is that while we continue to improve upon our healthcare system (for the most part-there’s a whole other article in here about the pitfalls and shortcomings of our system here) , in many parts of the world, the death rate is beginning to impinge upon the birthrate and when mass genocide, famines, wars, and pestilence is added in, we cant hope to continue to turn a blind eye to the needs of the rest of the world just because our resources are being utilized in Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world.
“Of the 57 million deaths in 2002, 10.5 million were among children of less than five years of age, and more than 98% of these were in developing countries.” Also this… “Reviewing the latest global health trends, this chapter finds disturbing evidence of widening gaps in health worldwide. In 2002, while life expectancy at birth reached 78 years for women in developed countries, it fell back to less than 46 years for men in sub-Saharan Africa, largely because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For millions of children today, particularly in Africa, the biggest health challenge is to survive until their fifth birthday, and their chances of doing so are less than they were a decade ago. This is a result of the continuing impact of communicable diseases. However, a global increase in noncommunicable diseases is simultaneously occurring, adding to the daunting challenges already facing many developing countries.” These are direct quotes from the WHO’s paper from 2003 entitled Shaping the Future. ***
Just my thoughts and I welcome yours.
* http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm ** http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/pdf/mortality/nvsr54_13_t01.pdf *** http://whqlibdoc.who.int/whr/2003/9241562439.pdf
posted by buster at 4:02 PM
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