Globalization and health issues

To the extent that global integration helps reduce poverty, it will indirectly lead to health improvements through income. But clearly, globalization can have adverse effects on health as well. these originate most clearly as side-effects of travel and migration, though trade in food and other products can spread disease just as well.
The AIDS epidemic is the most dramatic example in recent times of a deadly disease spread through travel and migration. Obviously, if there is an AIDS-free community somewhere on earth that can completely cut itself off from contact, it can be reasonably certain that it will be spared this health disaster. It will clearly pay a high price for this isolation in terms of poverty and quality of life.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea probably comes closest to achieving this kind of isolation. Almost all other societies choose to have some interaction - trade, travel, investment - with the world, all or any of which will increase the spread of disease. In the case of AIDS, for example, Over finds a positive relationship between the presence of immigrants in the population and the HIV prevalence rate.
The issue of integration is not just international. As China has reformed and there has been more economic integration (including migration) within the country, sexually transmitted diseases that were nearly eliminated in the 1960s have spread rapidly.
So, integration clearly exposes communities to various health risks. The point that I want to make here is that - leaving aside extreme cases such as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - both weak globalizers and strong globalizers in the developing world face these health risks. Countries that are relatively closed to trade and investment, such as Burma and Zimbabwe, nevertheless have severe AIDS problems. In fact, the relatively closed developing countries tend to have a lot of out- migration because they have poor environments for investment and production. As their labour force flows in and out, these societies are highly exposed to international transmission of disease.
Life spans are increasing around the world as more people benefit from better living conditions and improved health care. And yet, challenges remain, from unsafe water and unhealthy habits like smoking to the spread of global epidemics like AIDS and the influenza virus. The following Fact sheet takes a closer look.
As of 2003, AIDS killed almost 9,000 people every day. That is the equivalent of 17 fully-booked 747 flights going down every day. (United Nations)
U.S. health care spending reached $1.66 trillion in 2003. By comparison, China's and India's entire GDP amount to $1.4 trillion and $598 billion, respectively. (World Bank)
The continent of Africa has 1.4 health workers per 1,000 people - compared with 9.9 per 1,000 in North America. (Washington Post)
As of 2004, tobacco kills 4.9 people million a year. By 2020, the figure is likely to increase to 10 million per year - with 70% of tobacco related deaths occurring in developing countries. (World Health Organization)
China, a nation of 360 million smokers, plans to ban smoking at all sites for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games - signaling an official determination to address a growing public health crisis. (International Herald Tribune)
Pandemics of avian influenza - a disease that has the potential to infect humans - typically occur every 30 years. The last outbreak of avian influenza occurred in 1968 - 37 years ago. (New York Times)
As of 2004, a pandemic based on the H5N1 bird flu virus could kill between two million and seven million people around the world. (World Health Organization)
During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, at least 40 million people were killed worldwide. (Financial Times)
As of 2004, it takes four to six months after the outbreak of an influenza pandemic to develop a vaccine against it. (Financial Times)
Diseases related to unsafe drinking water kill four million children under the age of five every year. (United Nations)
The malaria parasite infects about 300 million people each year - and kills between one million and three million, mostly children. (Washington Post)
As of 2004, smallpox is the only disease that has been eliminated on a worldwide basis. If the World Health Organization's current eradication plan is successful, polio would be the second. (Washington Post)
As of 2004, polio remains endemic (freely circulating) in only six countries - Nigeria, Niger, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt. (World Health Organization)
Of 187 countries studied by the World Health Organization, 93 are on track to meet the United Nations goal of reducing under-five child mortality by two-thirds, and 51 are making slow progress. In 43 mostly African nations, however, mortality rates are stagnant or increasing. (Financial Times)
As of 2005, the United States is the only industrialized democracy without publicly funded universal health care (Economist)
As of 2004, the infant mortality rate in Beijing was 4.6 per every 1,000 births. In comparison, New York City’s rate was 6.5 per 1,000 - about 40% higher. (New York Times)