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

Blog #11

Another major global problem that seems to be growing in the number of lives it affects is cervical cancer. The proportion of women in their 20s diagnosed with cervical has risen significantly over the last 20 years. The research shows that the number of women diagnosed in 1990 has risen from 192 a year to 303 cases in 2007. 900 women a year in England die from cervical cancer and this disease needs to be stopped. Experts say that young girls should be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus which can trigger this disease. Also smoking and sexual activity can increase your risk for cervical cancer. The more men a woman has sex with increases her chance to pick up an infection with a cancer-causing strain of HPV. Also sleeping with one man who has had many partners puts you at risk as well. It is extremely important for the health of all women to be screen and vaccinated before they obtain this deadly disease. No individual should have to die from something that could have been stopped and it is our duty to bring about awareness.
The two main causes of cervical cancer are HPV and smoking, but the real question is why people smoke and why are so many women getting HPV. It is true however that all cases of cervical cancer are not caused by smoking and HPV, but for this analysis I will be focusing on these two main causes. First let’s look at why people smoke. Many people smoke because of stress which comes from working too much, problems with their family or relationship, worrying about loans or loved ones, etc. Another reason why people smoke is because they think it is cool. The see people on TV or actors smoking, they see that their friends do it, and sometimes it is just cool to do what your parents wouldn’t want you to do. There is no absolute reason why people smoke and they all know the dangerous effects that smoking can have on them, however they still do it. Which is fine of course but for most people it makes them happy. You never hear someone that consistently smokes say I hate smoking I do it because I have too. People do it because it feels a void in their life and brings them happiness. Yes it might be addicting but if you really want to quite something you just quite. Basically what I am saying here is that this thing that makes people happy can lead to an unfortunate death. Taking this notion in mind let’s talk about why so many people are receiving HPV. The Human Papilloma Virus is passed through sexual intercourse with another individual. So why do people have sex other than to reproduce. Many people have sex because there is also a void missing in their life and sex brings a quick gratification until you lose that feeling of pleasure. Many people have sex with multiply people and that is why studies say that 20 million Americans have had or still have HPV. They also show that 50% of men and women that are sexually active will receive HPV in their life. Why are more and more people having sex? It is just like smoking in the fact people are depressed and are looking for some sort of happiness along with the fact that society tells us that smoking and having sex is ok and what cool people do. As individuals we need to bring awareness of the dangers that smoking and sexual activity can produce which is not only cervical cancer. So what I am saying is that people look for happiness in the wrong places to feel a quick void which in turn takes multiple years off their lives.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/05/cervical-cancer-diagnosis-rate-rises?INTCMP

Blog # 10

A major global problem in the world of health and disease is type two diabetes, which leads to huge human cost and cost to the NHS. The number of people diagnosed with the disease in the UK alone has risen be nearly 130,000 in the past year to 2.9 million. Type two diabetes accounts for 90% of all cases and is most common in people that are overweight. Having vascular screening and losing 10% of your weight can reduce your chances of having type two diabetes, but something must be done to reverse if more people are not going to suffer and if diabetes is not going to bankrupt the NHS. The charity said about 10% of NHS spending, or £9bn a year, goes on diabetes and its complications. This disease affects nearly 17 million Americans and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. The death rate in patients with diabetes may be 11 times higher than someone without it.

The leading causes in type two diabetes are obesity and lack of physical activity, but the question is why are so many people obtaining this disease at such a fast rate. Why are so many people over weight and why don’t we take part in physical activity? I believe these go hand in hand and directly correlate with each other in such that lack of physical activity leads to obesity and then into type two diabetes. One of the leading causes in lack of physical activity is technology. I believe technology is the source of elimination of physical activity and obesity for several reasons. When we go into a mall or an airport how many people do you see taking the steps or actually walking in that matter, not many? The inventions that we create through technology are meant to make life easier and people lazier. We have escalators, elevators, moving platforms, shuttle cars, etc. I recently went to universal studios in Florida and they had moving platforms taking people around and guess what, not a single person actually walked the 100 feet to the entrance. Next, is the invention of video games and computers. What child wants to ride a bike or run around outside when he can sit and watch a TV screen? I could go on and on but the underling fact is that technology has created a culture of laziness. Not t mention everyone is this world is over worked from school and jobs that they honestly would rather sit around than go out and do something active. If this trend is to change we need to invent some sort of technology that doesn’t make us lazier or just find a cure.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/27/diabetes-health?INTCMP=SRCH

Blog # 9

One of the most concerning global problems that are affecting the world today is obesity. Conservative estimates of obesity trends in the UK to 2030 suggest 5,450,000 new cases of diabetes, 330,000 cases of coronary heart disease and stroke and 87,000 cancers, leading to an overall loss of 2.2m quality-adjusted life years in the population, at a cost of almost another £2bn per annum to the health service. There are some interventions being thought over right now the problem is trying to find that work and are cost effective. 8 of the 20 interventions assessed were cost-saving and the one that is most promising is a 10% tax on unhealthy foods and beverages. This tax might be a good idea to help some, but for the poorer population who spend most of their money on food will be penalized by this. A so called “fat tax” has unforeseeable consequences and could bring about disaster, however, the consequences of obesity is far detrimental to all mankind. Something needs to be done or we will have a lot of sick and dying people in this world.
I have done a few posts on obesity so far and that is because it is a serious global problem that has the world clenched in its grasps. I believe that our society is plagued with harmful fatty foods that are cheap, advertisements that make young children want to buy these foods, over worked individuals with little time to cook and exercise, and the economy which is so bad parents can’t afford nice foods along with they don’t have time encourage their children to eat right because they are always working. Our world is set up for people to be obese and while I believe a “fat tax” might help some and would be a good start for a healthier world, I do not believe it is the answer to this problem. What if instead of taxing the fatty foods we just stop making them in general? Some way we need to come together as one and fight obesity before it takes and even bigger toll on our world.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/oct/27/obesity-public-health-tax-kings-fund?INTCMP=SRCH

Blog #8

A serious global problem that is plaguing the world is climate change or global warming. Hundreds of millions of people may be trapped in hospitable environments as they attempt to flee from floods, droughts, storms, heat waves, and more. Because of these harsh conditions the death toll will rise severely. This becomes a major health problem when people cannot obtain food, or die because they can’t escape. Scientists warn that this is one of the biggest visual effects of the earth warming and they say it is directly resulting from the use of fossil fuels. Unfortunately many people will migrate into, instead of away from areas of environmental vulnerability, and some will not be able to escape at all. Last year according to the United Nations, 210 million people migrated between countries and in 2009 about 740 million people moved within countries. Climate change skeptics say that is impossible to tell out of that 210 million, how many actually moved because of climate change. Scientists say that within the next 30 years climate change will be a leading cause in such migration. They also say that trying to stop migration is not the right approach; we should anticipate it and become more prepared.
When analyzing this topic first we must assume that there is such thing as global warming and it is causing these disastrous events. For all we know the floods could be directly related in the extermination of all our trees and plants. Here is an example: say you live at the bottom of a hill, and this hill is made completely out of dirt and soil. When it rains the water will come down the hill where some will soak into the soil but most of it will run down and flood your house. Eventually this hill will wither away and you will have a lake where you live. If you so happen to plant trees, grass, ivy, or bushes, when it rains the plants will soak up most if not all the water. This in turn leaves you house above water and your hill will most likely survive. This example on a much larger skill could be the reason for flooding. Droughts and climate change could be explained by the plates shifting and the continents moving into different places on earth. Just like our desserts are in the sub-tropical ridge our plates are moving too different places in the world which is directly related to climate change and droughts. But let’s just say there is such thing as global warming because either way this is a problem no matter what the cause is. When we are seeing such changes to our world which affect the people on it and their health, I believe it is a serious problem. If the scientist are correct which they most certainly might be, global warming and its affects are related to the burning of fossil fuels. A constant burning of these fuels directly affects our atmosphere and ozone which defiantly can cause serious problems that we have yet to see the ultimate effect. A change needs to be made whether it is to stop emissions or change the way we live and the things we do. With every great problem lies a simple solution.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/20/climate-change-millions-disaster-report?INTCMP=SRCH

Blog # 7

This week on my current event, I decided I would touch on something a little different but still falling under the same health and disease topic. A major global problem I read about this week was why so much of mainstream development's resources, research, campaigning efforts and attention ignore disabled people. Around one in seven of the world's population, or 1 billion people are disabled and disability can trap individuals and their families in poverty. Living in poverty also means you're far more likely to be born disabled or become disabled. Unemployment levels for people with disabilities are 80%-90%. Literacy rates are as low as 3% and one in every three children not in school are disabled. Disabilities also lead to a great deal of discrimination from not only the community but in many instances family as well. Luckily change is being made on several levels with activists like “Said” who seek out other disabled people in the community and mentor them in tackling discrimination and accessing opportunities. There is also a millennium development goal for education and grants being given out to disabled people. Just like women 20 years ago disabled people are not employed by the development industry, not seen, and so not reached.
It is a shame that such discrimination takes place in the world today. Why are the disabled discriminated against and will they ever have equality? One reason I believe that the disabled are discriminated against is because so many people in this world are terrified of something other than the norm. This is repeating history since history has started. Human beings have discriminated against every race, society, sex preference, gender, and more over the course of time. It is not because certain people or things are good or bad but more along the lines of not the norm. People in general are afraid of change and until change takes place they will stay afraid of the thing trying to be changed. For example, segregation was a huge thing that people wanted to keep however now that there is no segregation between whites and blacks it is no longer discussed as a global issue that needs to be worked towards. I believe over time just like women’s suffrage, that the disabled will be more accepted. It is wrong in every context to discriminate against any individual for any reason and by discriminating against the disabled it is forcing them to live harder lives. The disabled are left out of jobs, education, and the community which in turn leads them to have more physical and mental problems. Just like several videos watched in class on how poorer people have to work in dangerous conditions which lead to disabilities. It is nice to see change being made and a great example is right here on our campus which helps the disabled in many different ways. If the world was not so terrified of change I believe that everyone would get along and there would be little to no prejudice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/oct/13/development-ignores-disabled-people-poverty?INTCMP=SRCH

Blog #6

Scaffolding off my last few post, this week I am enlightening on the urgency to fight Obesity. Obesity as we all know is a growing global problem and it isn’t hard to recognize just by looking around. Obesity is running ramped all over the world and shows little sign of slowing down. "People need to want to change their lifestyles and take responsibility for their health." Yet there is a great deal the government can do to help them without falling foul of the familiar charge of nannying. Something the government can do is label supermarket foods. Also the government needs to consider applications for fast food outlets and reject them if necessary. When a street is already replete with a burger takeaway and two fried-chicken joints, the council ought to have the right to refuse permission for another and grant it to a shop selling fresh food. The government in Britain is promoting exercising and has built workout facilities and has given money to promote people to walk and cycle routes to school and work. MPs voted for a smoking ban because the public now feels entitled to eat and drink in a smoke-free environment. The right to be able to buy healthy food locally is just as important. Given the enormous cost to the NHS of diabetes and other obesity-related diseases, Ms. Hewitt could do more to help us turn away from the takeaway. In the USA today, this week they talked about the growing rate of obesity and how it is climbing higher and higher. Unfortunately people don’t realize the effects of such a massive problem. Obesity leads to several heart diseases along with posing major, deathly problems to people’s bodies.
It is hard to believe that the world is becoming more obese by the hour and so little is being done to counteract this problem. With every problem there has to be some sort of cause and solution. When thinking about obesity I kind of touched on some causes in my last post, where I explained how the constant stress of work and school and the little time people had in between caused people to gain weight. In my opinion this is still one of the main causes. College has the ability to take students time and money and without these two things they cannot afford nice healthy meals and don’t have the time to work out or exercise. But this also does not account for the young kids that are overweight and the rest of the population that are not in school or working. I believe the main reason certain children are overweight is because their parents, for one do not feed them the healthy foods they need along with the fact that television advertisements have evolved in such a way that children can’t help but eat bad foods. Companies come up with these advertisements for one reason and that is to get people to buy their product so they can make money. Money is a key reason for obesity in two ways: fast foods are cheap and big companies want your money no matter if you die from their product. I also think technology over the years have made people lazy in such a way that they put little to no effort in everything they do, in turn making them obese. I don’t believe that the government alone can make people eat or live healthy lives, I believe it starts with the individual and unless they want to make a change they honestly won’t.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree

Blog #5 Many healthy returns: a role for business in reducing lifestyle disease

A vast global problem that has taken over the world is “lifestyle diseases,” which span from poor diets, sugars and fats, physical inactivity, alcohol misuse, and smoking. With current trends, societies will be gravely damaged by the combination of a growing, ageing and chronically sick population, with a less productive workforce to support it. Only a concerted, "all-of-society" approach that brings together government, business and civil society has any hope of tackling the underlying complexity of this threat. As talked about in my previous post, which also resides in this article, the cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the world’s greatest killers with about 36 million deaths a year. This is 63% of all deaths globally. Despite the severity of the threat, chronic diseases also known as “life style diseases” are some of the most preventable. This article blames a lot of the causes on jobs being desk oriented and stressful along with video games and sitting down leisure activities. According to the article the only way to achieve the necessary fundamental shifts across society is to bring together the power and reach of all societal sectors: government, businesses, civil society, and non-government organizations. There already seeing considerable strides being made by many companies, and there a number of examples of strong collaboration with the health community. However, the battle against chronic disease requires a major increase of such efforts on all sides. It is not a battle we can afford to lose.
When it comes to analyzing how these lifestyle diseases became such a huge problem, a light bulb went off in my head about how all this took place. On the surface it is obvious that cheap food equals not healthy food, and that sugars and fats are delicious and well-advertised. Also smoking and drinking are fun. But this doesn’t really answer our problem. Why do people buy cheap foods and is smoking and drinking really that fun or is it a stress reliever. This was not a major problem 60 years ago and you have to wonder why that maybe. Yes the economy is bad and that is one major factor of why people buy cheap foods and they feel the need to drink and smoke. But I think it’s something a little more isolated than just the economy even though the economy plays a role in it. I believe a main reason for these life style diseases directly corresponds with higher education and the pursuit for a better job. Let’s take me for example, I am a junior here at UNCG and I work a part time job. I am 21 years of age and make an ok amount of money; however I spend about 25 hours a week in school, 20 hours outside of school doing school work, and about 24 hours at my job. There is 120 hours in a normal 5 day week and I am sitting down doing work about 70 hours of that time, which leaves me 50 hours of free time. In those 50 hours of free time, I sleep about 35 to 40 hours of it. So I have about 10 real hours of free time which I want to spend relieving all my stress. So as we see I have no time for exercise, no time to cook and eat right, and in my spare time I sit around with my friends drinking beer to calm down. More people are in college now than 60 years ago and that is why more people are experiencing these problems. I have gained 10 pounds since school started back and I feel a lot sicker. Luckily for me I spent every day in the gym all summer but some people have jobs, kids, and school during that time. People just do not have time even after college to eat right, exercise, etc. If we were to take it a step further and ask why we are so busy, we might say it is because we want to make more money, have a better life, some people might say it is because they have so much free time and they want something to do. Never the less even if the economy was good people would still have to go through college to get a better job because things have changed and they still would be too busy and stressed to do what they need to do to prevent this problem.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/role-business-reducing-lifestyle-disease?INTCMP=SRCH

Blog #4 United Nations Fights non-communicable diseases

In concerns to health and disease a major global issue that is affecting the world today is non-communicable diseases. World leaders at a meeting of the United Nations agree to try to curb the spread of these preventable diseases. The World Health Organization claims that these diseases are rapidly spreading across all parts of the globe, fuelled by obesity as a result of bad diet and sedentary lifestyles, together with alcohol and smoking. These diseases were responsible for around 36 million of the 57 million global deaths in 2008, including about 9 million before the age of 60 – and many are preventable. Countries such as the UK have imposed smoking bans and have taxed cigarettes and alcohol heavily. They also have restricted junk food advertising to children but many of the developing countries have yet to address these issues. This is the second call ever of a high-level summit on a health issue that the UN has ever called. The last one was in concerns to AIDS in 2001. This only shows the disastrous potential of these diseases. There is talk of reducing salts, fats, and sugars but nobody is seeking to minimize the seriousness of the problem. Among an avalanche of reports released before the summit, one by the World Bank warns that these preventable diseases "increasingly threaten the health and economic security of many lower- and middle-income countries". These countries could lose their next generation.
There is no doubt that this is a serious global concern and needs to be fixed, but it is important before fixing any problem to determine some of the main causes. How did the world come to love fatty foods, sugars, cigarettes, and alcohol? One cause might be the detriment to the economies around the world. People with their low incomes, resort to fatty fast foods which are cheap to buy. Also if these foods were not so well advertised to not only adults but to children people would probably cut down on their intake. A main cause for the use of cigarettes and alcohol is the exposure children have to TV, movies, and games. These sources make drinking and smoking look like the cool thing to do but they never show you the effects they could have on your life. Behind these sources of entertainment are companies with their urges to make more and more money. These companies funnel tons of money into entertainment in hopes to produce more money for themselves. Money really is the root of all evil because the companies that produce these products do not care about the health of the users they just care about the money flowing into their pockets. If we had a system that did not revolve around money I can assure that these deaths from these diseases would be cut in half if not more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/sep/16/un-summit-spread-lifestyle-diseases?INTCMP=SRCH

Blog #3 Cancer

In relations to my last current event topic which was cancer, I am now narrowing it down to a certain type of cancer. A major Global problem which is killing millions of women is cervical and breast cancer. These cancers have not only run ramped here in the states but are magnified by the millions in low income countries such as Africa and Asia. Around 2 million women are developing breast or cervical cancer every year, according to the first global review, which warns that the diseases could overtake maternal mortality as a cause of death in younger women. Studies show that breast cancer is rising in women at the reproductive age 15-49. The IHME has stated that the number of deaths from breast and cervical cancer will soon past the number of deaths accrued from pregnancy and child birth. As of right now the number of people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer is 1.6 million which has increased from 641,000 in the last 20 years. These growth rates however are taking place in mostly low income countries unlike the UK whose growth rate for this type of cancer is less than 1%. There have been around 200,000 deaths from cervical cancer in 2010 mostly in Guyana and Zambia.
Something obviously needs to be done to stop so many of these deaths from taking place, but first we must take a deeper look at the causes. On the surface it is obvious that one main reason for these cancers is that the countries are poor. As high-income countries enjoy the benefit of early cancer screenings, drug therapies and vaccines, the burden of breast and cervical cancer is shifting to low-income countries in Africa and Asia. They have little to no sources for medicine and cannot afford to go to doctors to get tested. Then we need to look at why these countries are poor and why aren’t the wealthier countries doing something about this. The reasons are that we are sucking these countries dry of their resources and using them for extensive cheap labor and wealthier countries do not want to spend their money on a problem that doesn’t really affect them. Some claims makers then say that “basic cancer prevention and care does not have to be hugely expensive, involving education so that women are diagnosed earlier and the drug tamoxifen which is now out of patent and, therefore, cheap. Screening and the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine that is now given to girls in the UK and other developed countries could prevent many cases of cervical cancer around the globe” In this case why isn’t this being done? It might be because the wealthier countries still don’t want to spend their time and money to train doctors overseas or there just are not enough people that care about the well being of others. Maybe if we had a system that didn’t revolve on money and corruption these cancers would have never grown so drastically. If everyone cares more about others than their own person gain maybe such things never would have happened.

Blog #2 Living Habits

A major global problem affecting the world today is unhealthy eating and living habits, which in turn causes the spread of cancer and other diseases that lead to the deaths of millions. About twelve million cancers are newly diagnosed each year, many of which will have some genetic or other trigger. This disease can be directly correlated with our diets and our eating habits. Our world is full of unhealthy eating habits that invoke cancer in our bodies. Around 2.8 million cancers worldwide could be prevented if people adopted healthier lifestyles and better diets. Not only junk food but smoking and alcohol are key factors in around a quarter of these cancers being diagnosed. These unhealthy habits also lead to heart disease, diabetes, and stroke which are killing millions.
If we wish to prevent these deaths from happening we need to make a stand. Exports hope that the UN will take a lead in setting targets for cutting deaths from lifestyle diseases. Campaigners hope issues such as junk food marketing to children on television, tobacco advertising in developing world, and alcohol prices will be addressed. It is unfortunate that our society works in a way to discourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Companies trying to market their products do not warn of the potential outcome that they will produce. Professor Martin Wiseman said that the UN summit will be a real turning point in this fight. This summit offers the chance to look at public health issues at the international level. Hopefully this problem will be on its way to being solved instead of put on the back burner. I think it is the job of parents to encourage their kids to eat right and a lot of the blame should fall back on them. However when so many people are saying how fun smoking and drinking are on T.V. shows and in movies, it’s hard to keep kids from these things. With any problem there is no easy solution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/07/worldwide-cancer-rates-healthier-lifestyles?INTCMP=SRCH

Blog #1 Famine in Africa

In my opinion one of the biggest problems in this world is the lack of food in relations to the multitudes of people, alongside the overbearing cost of such a direr necessity. It is apparent that right now in the Horn of Africa a volatile global food supply is deepening the humanitarian catastrophe. There are near historic prices for staples such as corn, wheat, and sugar along with shortages in these foods because of extensive droughts. As stated in the article more than 12 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the Horn of Africa. In some areas 40% of children under 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition. Last month corn, or maze, has risen by 84% and sugar and wheat have risen over 50%. Food prices altogether have risen over 30% higher than a year ago. In some places prices have increased 240% over the last year. The combination of rising food cost alongside with the lack of foods, thanks to extensive droughts have devastated the African people. Without food the many Africans will fall to disease, illness, malnutrition, and even death.
This Global problem will not be solved overnight but there are several actions that need to take place to solve this issue. Some of the causes for such high cost in food falls back on the US with our production of biofuels. These biofuels correlate with the production of corn ethanol which results in higher food prices. We need to limit the use of crops for fuels and find an alternate source. Some other causes could be poor local harvest and the shrinking global food stocks. Another cause is the droughts that are taking place. One solution may be new technology. In the guardian they were talking about shooting lasers into the sky to produce rain. Even though this may be a start, it is probably rather expensive. No matter how we look at it this is a serious global problem and needs to be solved for the grader good of all mankind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/16/africa-famine-food-prices-world-bankc