In accordance with the latest ideas, human health is a synthetic category, which includes, in addition to the physiological, mental, intellectual and moral components. It is more or less sick not only the person who has a chronic illness or physical defects, but also one who has a mental disorder, impaired intellect, an unstable psyche. Such a person is usually not in a position to fulfil their social responsibilities on an equal footing with those who are completely healthy. From this point of view, according to authoritative scientists, almost every second inhabitant of the planet is not completely healthy.
The problem of human health - just "old." You can talk about the fact that its global nature manifested itself even earlier than other global problems. Indeed, even in the era of transition to the capitalist system, marked by the rapid development of trade and migration, spread around the world threatening epidemics and pandemics (distribution of any disease on whole countries and continents, greater than when the epidemic), against which national control measures and warnings were ineffective. It took concerted international action to "global" public health.
In 1881, Louis Pasteur proved the principle of creating immunity to infectious diseases with vaccines, and the first theory of immunity was established in 1883, Mechnikov. These discoveries have predetermined chance to eliminate some of the dangerous diseases on the planet. But still can not create a highly effective vaccine against malaria, influenza and acute respiratory infections, sexually transmitted diseases, staphylococci, not to mention cancer or AIDS. Not found yet and vaccines against certain contagious diseases in farm animals.
Increasingly, there are facts about the spread of new diseases. Accumulate data on the impact of the increased emissions and toxic effluents on heredity: the percentage of newborns with genetic abnormalities increases. Meanwhile, in the laboratories of scientists each year are born tens of thousands of new chemical compounds whose effects on the human body, as a rule, no one knows.
Reproach to civilization is the preservation of the planet of high infant mortality. Experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) believe that if it is not reduced, during the last decade of XX century. in underdeveloped countries die from disease and malnutrition more than 100 million children. In this case, most of it comes to common diseases: pneumonia, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, and so on. N.
Came a time when the level of civilization of any country should be determined not only (and perhaps not so much) the development of new sectors of the economy (for example, the release of elektronnovychislitelnoy or space technology), but the duration of life of the population.
In the study of this problem in the geographers, as we know, has its own professional interest related to medical geography. This science studies the geographical distribution of diseases and pathological conditions of the person, the reasons for this distribution and the influence of geographical environment on human health. Geography disease is largely due to the influence of natural (climate, nalichieotsutstvie in water, soil, and hence also in food of certain chemical elements, etc..) And social (material conditions of life, the cultural level of the population, a traditional type of food, and so on. D. ) factors. This geography is called nozogeografiey. It is closely linked with epidemiological geography (ie,. E. With the geography of infectious diseases), microbiology, hygiene, pathology, and so on. D.
Nozogeografiya. Has long been observed that many human diseases are found only in certain parts of the world: for example, yellow fever - in the countries of South America and Africa, cholera - mostly in India and adjacent countries in Asia, leishmaniasis - mainly in arid countries, and so on. d. And in terms of the former Soviet Union, many of the disease had enough clear regional character. So, Ufa was "recognizable" by cholecystitis in Tagil and Taganrog more common diseases of the upper respiratory tract; for Kineshma were typical chronic pyelonephritis; Salavat suffer from chronic and rheumatic heart disease; in large cities more marked gastrointestinal diseases; in port cities - sexually transmitted, and so on. d.
Not only the city but also entire regions of the former Soviet Union have been "recognized" by the characteristic disease. In the far north are common deficiency diseases; Far East is dangerous tick-borne encephalitis; Ukraine and Belarus increased incidence of bronchial asthma; in Dagestan, the most frequently recorded of iron deficiency anemia; Karelia, Kazakhstan, Buryatia, Astrakhan and Murmansk regions dominated by esophageal cancer, and so on. d.
Geographically diseases usually are four prirodnoklimaticheskie macro zones - moderate, southern, Mediterranean and tropical. This division is rather arbitrary, but gives you the opportunity to fix the global primary distribution of certain diseases. Temperate zone extends from North America and Europe to Japan, covering Australia and New Zealand; south - the southern half of South America and southern Africa. Mediterranean area includes mainly the Mediterranean countries and the Middle East; tropical - the countries of Central America and Africa, Southeast Asia. Within this "nozogeograficheskogo regionalization" of the world to observe the propagation of the four major groups of diseases: 1) infectious diseases; 2) malignant neoplasms; 3) diseases caused by deficiencies in the diet, and 4) cardiovascular and mental diseases.
Problem of human health and longevity