Wednesday, October 18, 2006;10:02 pm **crisis core**
lol
mm... been a long while since i wrote a gp essay... haha... been a long while since i blogged too.. dear is stressed... hope she's alrite.. mm... few more days to A's.. we muz work hard.. and we can do it! hee... mm... sc n fy got enlisted on 11 jan.. wonder wad's mine... dunno leh... havent check my mailbox...
In the light of recent health alarms, is globalization more a curse than a blessing?
The outbreak of the world’s most fatal viruses over the past few years has boggled the minds of over a million critics whether globalization could be beneficial to us. I believe that globalization is more a blessing than a curse as the sharing of scientific knowledge and the global impact of the Media allow Man to find a cure or a method to quarantine the infected patients in the shortest amount of time with the declining relevance of geographical distances.
With much help through the advances in Science and Technology, globalization is the key factor that drives scientists to research for vaccines and cures. During the SARS crisis in 2003, millions of people were killed within days once infected. It had become an epidemic but there was no known cure to this new virus. Many people turned hysterical their calling to a cure was to no avail. Fortunately, through globalization, the information on new discoveries of the genome of the virus or that the serum of cured patients could be a vaccine to combat against this microbe were exchanged among various research organizations in different countries to successfully wipe out this virus. Globalization is more a blessing as it minimizes the number of casualties during each pandemic. It also boosts the rate of improvement of Science and Technology as well as the morale of researchers with the increased amounts of funds from the local government. Hence, this will in turn speed up the progress of the search for a cure of pandemics in the future. Underdeveloped and developing nations can also reduce the number of deaths and infected patients if there was an exchange in the knowledge of the viruses.
The Media influence on people as well as the technological innovations such as the invention of Satellites and the Internet allows anyone to be informed on updates of the epidemic. For example, information on different types of avian influenza viruses can be easily obtained from the Internet for any concerned individual. In this way, people from all over the world can be educated on the measures to prevent this flu and the countries affected by this virus. Globalization can be beneficial as it helps to disseminate instructions in time of crisis. In addition, in tandem with the creation of a new culture, anyone infected by the virus will be given equal treatment as there will be no discrimination and segregation of races. This will improve the efficiency of the hospital organizations.
However, globalization can be a curse than a blessing at times. The origin of spread of SARS to Singapore was from a Singaporean who recently visited Hong Kong. If there was no globalization, SARS would be contained to only China and the virus will not spread to other countries, resulting in an epidemic in Asia. The diminishing importance of geographical constraints has caused us even more complications. The “Global Village” is an apt description of the recent world. Although the ease of travelling to another country can bring about the spread of viruses to become a world pandemic, the sharing of scientific discoveries and information can curb the issue in no time. Thus, globalization may not be seen as a curse after all.
In conclusion, the pandemic phenomenon is a consequence of globalization. However, it is through globalization that cures and methods to alleviate the sufferings of patients are discovered. Globalization is a blessing in disguise as it not only helps to find an answer to the problems, it also serves to educate and make the general public be aware of global health issues.