Question

FIGHTING THE REAL ENEMY

Six major ailments AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, measles, diarrheal diseases, and acute respiratory infections (such as pneumonia) are responsible for one in every two deaths among children and working age adults. Without these infectious diseases the world would be a better place, but stopping their spread is getting harder, says a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Between 1 and 3 million children in developing countries die from vitamin A deficiency diseases each year. By doing something as easy as giving these children one dose of vitamin A every four to six months which costs about 3 cents we could save their lives. Death from measles, a leading killer of children in Africa, could be cut in half by administering large doses of vitamin A orally. Fighting vitamin A deficiency in the Third World is now the official goal of the World Health Organization, Unicef, the international Congress of Nutrition and their agencies.

The report calls on the world’s leaders to increase financial support for better research and disease control. In the past 50 years, according to the WHO, malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis have killed six times as many people as warfare. Yet the funds devoted to fighting these three diseases humanity’s real enemies amount to less then 2 percent of global military spending.

(Adapted from National Geographic.)

I. Responda em português. (0.5 3.0)

1. Qual é o problema apontado no texto?

2. Qual é a tendência: agravamento ou diminuição do problema?

3. O que poderia ser feito para combatê lo?

Answer 1

1. R: O alto índice de mortalidade, devido doenças como, HIV, Malária, Tuberculose, Sarampo, Pneumonia, entre outros..

2. R: Se as providências não forem tomadas, a tendência é se agravar.

3. R: As forças mundias poderiam investir um pouco mais, para que a Vitamina A seja distribuída aos lugares que sofrem com as doenças citadas.