The greatest risk of global catastrophe we face today is disease. The Ebola outbreak in the last year was scary, yet nowhere near the size and proportion that it could have been. Much of this simply has to do with the nature of the virus, people who are infected are usually bedridden. Also there were volunteers who were able to go the the affected African countries to find the infected and stop the spread of the virus. Next time we might not be so lucky. If the disease were to start in a more urban area, or if people felt well while they have the disease, it could increase the infection rate. In my Ted Talk for this week, Bill Gates speaks on how we should be preparing for the next epidemic.
there are still many precautions we can use to prevent this from happening. In the case of an epidemic the first thing to be done is to get the word out. Almost every single person has a cell phone, television, or newspaper. People need to know what is happening so that they can prevent future infections. The next step is to have strong health systems in poorer countries. This is a way for us to see the outbreak very early on. One of the most crucial steps to create a response team. Workers that are ready to go to these small countries and stop the disease from spreading. The last step is to increase funding for disease research and development so that a vaccine can be created fast and efficiently.
The technology exists to prevent a outbreak but many people do not believe it to be a problem. If funding is increased and the public realizes that something needs to be done, then the potential of a disease taking out a large population of the world will decrease, but the first step toward the solution to this problem is realizing that there is a problem in the first place.
there are still many precautions we can use to prevent this from happening. In the case of an epidemic the first thing to be done is to get the word out. Almost every single person has a cell phone, television, or newspaper. People need to know what is happening so that they can prevent future infections. The next step is to have strong health systems in poorer countries. This is a way for us to see the outbreak very early on. One of the most crucial steps to create a response team. Workers that are ready to go to these small countries and stop the disease from spreading. The last step is to increase funding for disease research and development so that a vaccine can be created fast and efficiently.
The technology exists to prevent a outbreak but many people do not believe it to be a problem. If funding is increased and the public realizes that something needs to be done, then the potential of a disease taking out a large population of the world will decrease, but the first step toward the solution to this problem is realizing that there is a problem in the first place.