Blog # 12

For my final current event I am going to discuss one of the global health problems that I perceive to be most important. It is also one of the most preventable of all health disease and I believe the world needs to realize the severity of this problem. Lifestyle diseases kill approximately 36 million people a year and these diseases are fueled by smoking, alcohol, and poor eating habits. These diseases consist of cancer, obesity, type-two diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The disease mentioned in this article is esophageal cancer. 6.4 people per 100,000 in the UK developed esophageal cancer in 2008, nearly double the European average (3.3). The charity said lifestyle changes could prevent most of the 7,600 deaths – more than 5,000 of them men. This disease could be prevented by cutting back on smoking and drinking alongside of having better eating habits. These few things can also cut back on many other types of cancers as well.
As I have talked about in several of my post, these lifestyle diseases are extremely dangerous but almost 100% preventable. It is a shame that millions of people have to die every year from these health diseases and little to nothing is being done. Awareness is not the answer. Plenty of people know the causes of smoking and drinking along with poor diets and this does not stop them. People are over worked and stressed which leads them to cling to the things that bring them pleasure. With the lack of time for physical activity adults as well as kids are overweight and in their free time you better believe they would rather sit in front of a TV than go to a park and take a stroll. Life is hard we work hard for our money and we spend it on cheap greasy foods so we can pay for bills and take care of our families. There is a reason they call these diseases lifestyle disease because we have to change the way will live or we might as well dig our own grave. Stress from a bad economy force people to buy cheap foods and fill a void they have by smoking and drinking to relieve some pressure. We could put higher taxes on greasy/surgery foods along with alcohol and tobacco products so people will not buy them, and use the extra money to lower taxes on healthy foods. You could take a greater portion of lottery money and put it into eliminating the high cost of college or lower taxes on necessities. I don’t believe there is one solution that will solve this problem nor do I believe it will ever be completely solved; however we must start somewhere if we wish to defeat these diseases. In turns of convincing other nations to support these actions I believe if you show them the numbers of people that are suffering and the possible loss of individuals that could have changed the world they would gladly jump on board.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/14/oesophageal-cancer-uk-worst-in-europe?INTCMP=SRCH