| dc.description.abstract | The study of the relation of man to his environment in developing countries
emphasizes the inevitable need for societies to recognize the true causes of
infection, malnutrition, and poverty. The need is for improvement in the quality
of human life in less developed nations, a recommendation easy to prescribe but
difficult to accomplish. Although our pool of knowledge is incomplete, it is
adequate to suggest ways to diminish infection, increase food production, utilize
food more efficiently, improve education, and provide systems of justice to
protect the classes most in need.
The physical environment in tropical and subtropical regions, and the
socioeconomic characteristics of the population inhabiting such regions, favor
maintenance and transmission of a variety of viruses, bacteria, and parasites that
make agricultural progress and social development difficult, and that contribute
to poor fetal growth, nutrient wastage, and deficient postnatal physical growth.
accounting for most of the childhood morbidity and mortality. In this regard.
infections contribute indirectly to the overall food problem in a similar fashion
as pests do in terms of food losses and spoilage. The overall effect could be
comparable or greater than that resulting from an inadequate capacity to
produce or to purchase the food needed.
Thus, my objective has been to stress, within the whole environment, the
importance of infection and the need to diminish it. Waysto control and prevent
infection are readily known. They have to do with education of the population to improve personal and environmental hygiene. Economic investment is necessary
to improve housing and water supply sYstems, waste disposal, and such
preventive measures as immunization programs. Although such measures may
appear expensive when first implemented, they have long-lasting effects and
many require minimal expenditure once they are established. Large segments of
the population stand to benefit, and other development interventions can then
be introduced. However, these measures should not be implemented singly. They
should be accompanied by community development, family planning, social
legislation-in other words, the holistic approach to health and welfare. To do
otherwise may aggravate the problem by stimulating demographic growth, perpetuating
malnutrition and infection, and maintaining underdevelopment | es |
