Traveling to a developing country? Interesting health statistics

[eviltammy]

Developing is the new term for third world countries.

You're planning a trip to a developing country. You spend most of your pre-travel time worrying about infectious diseases and getting shots. Not a bad thing - getting your shots is important.

Studies looking at the causes of death of travelers from affluent countries to developing countries show that infectious diseases account for 1% of deaths. One percent. Around half of the deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes - mostly in the elderly.

Your biggest chance of death? Road traffic accidents.

And in the US, over 60% of RTAs occur in drivers. In the developing countries, drivers account for fewer than 10% of fatalities. Urban pedestrians alone account for about 65% of auto-related deaths in developing countries.

And no 911 - no operator standing by. "You hitchhike, taxi, walk, or crawl to the nearest medical facility, which, if you are in a rural area, may consist of little more than a well-intentioned village healer."


From The Adventurous Traveler's Guide to Health by Christopher Sandford, M.D.

Interesting book, so far. Informative, with a good sense of humor.

Comments

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

The book does sound interesting, but at the same time I'm taken aback at the arrogance and ethnocentrism of calling 3rd world countries "developing" -- probably because I have friends in some 3rd world countries who consider their countries far more developed culturally and ethically and less concerned with the quest for money and power than the west and can make excellent arguments that they're right...

[otterevil.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I hadn't actually thought about it much, but, yeah, it is offensive on those levels.

I went back to the beginning of the book to find out why he used that term - it is supposed to be an economic term, referring to to nations whose average income is below a certain level. I guess they (whoever they are) thought it was better than 3rd world?

BTW - which are 2nd world countries? ::goes off to look::

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

*nod* I see where they're coming from, but some of those 3rd world countries seem to have much happier (even if materially poorer) people than the west.

I think traditionally the first world is US and its allies (the capitalist countries) and 2nd is the Soviet Union and its allies (the socialist countries). I would guess that may have changed some in the past 50+ years, but I don't know how it has.

I just looked up "third world" on wikipedia and it suggests "third world" was every country that didn't ally with one side or the other in WW2. I never knew that.

I also like their suggestion that a better term than "third world" is "majority world"