
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 30, 1990                   TAG: 9004300081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

200 MILLION PREVENTABLE DEATHS FORECAST

If current global trends continue, an estimated 200 million people worldwide could die prematurely from preventable illnesses in the 1990s, according to a report on the state of world health released Sunday by the World Health Organization.

"Disease is the most destructive force in the world today," Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, director-general of WHO, said in a statement.

Many of the 40 million people who die annually from disease "could be saved by shifting a small amount of resources to health care," said the report, which was prepared for the May 7 World Health Assembly. The meeting will convene representatives from 166 WHO-member countries in an attempt to devise new global health strategies.

"Many of the world's illnesses are preventable or treatable with inexpensive vaccines, antibiotics or oral rehydration therapy," Nakajima said. "What is needed is to mobilize the political will to make this a healthier world."

About 50 million people die each year from all causes, including disease, the health organization said. Of these, about 80 percent occur in developing countries.

An estimated 14.5 million children younger than 5 years old die annually in developing countries from disease and other causes, the report said. Of these, more than 8,000 children die every day from diseases that could have been prevented by immunization, and almost 11,000 die daily of dehydration caused by diarrhea, the report said. Further, an additional 8,000 die every day of pneumonia, WHO said.

For example, it would cost about $2.5 billion a year to immunize all children and provide medication for dehydration and pneumonia, the organization said. This would save the lives of an estimated 7.5 million children annually, WHO said.

Changes in lifestyles could eliminate at least half of the 12 million deaths annually associated with cardiovascular disease, the report said. Noting that 3 million adults die from diseases associated with tobacco, the organization said that "the prevention of these tobacco-related deaths is the most simple of all."

During any two-week period, "at least 1 billion people - or one out of every five on Earth - are diseased, in poor health, or malnourished," the report said. These conditions include malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, AIDS, anemia, hookworm and measles, WHO said.

Despite these gloomy statistics, WHO said that the overall global health picture has improved over the decade.

by CNB