They measure only three millimeters from head to toe, but as far as managing infectious disease is concerned, ants seem to be a huge step ahead of us.
Unlike SARS, avian flu or ebola, swine flu has gone truly global. Confronted by the 21st century’s first pandemic, how scared should we be?
"White-collar diseases" such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and burnout syndrome are affecting millions of people. Markku Wilenius, a researcher of future trends, believes we need health coaches to teach us how to stay healthy.
Cardiovascular diseases of the heart and blood vessels are the number one cause of death worldwide, and increasingly prevalent in developing countries. They are primarily triggered by lifestyle factors like smoking, diet, and physical inactivity.
Over 2.6 billion people do not have adequate toilets, sewers, or latrines. This is also bad news for other development goals, including education, gender equality, and public health.
The late nineties and early 2000’s were marked by an unprecedented wave of drugs like Rezulin, Lipobay or Vioxx gone wrong. Pharmaceutical companies faced huge losses and damage to their reputations. Johannes Klose of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty explains why today’s medicines are safer than ever.
HIV/AIDS is the biggest infectious disease threat facing the world and the fourth-leading cause of death. But there are signs that the pandemic has peaked and prevention and treatment programs are working.
Everybody’s health will be affected by climate change, predicts Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum of the World Health Organization, as diseases, extreme weather, and food and water shortages impact all populations.
Diabetes is a rapidly spreading global epidemic that feeds on the increasing levels of obesity and physical inactivity prevalent in modern societies. Aging populations and urbanization increase the trend.
Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world's number one killer by 2010 as the ‘cancer burden’ shifts from wealthy to less affluent countries. Aging populations, more smokers, increasingly fatty diets, and a lack of health care are to blame.
