Tag: infectious diseases

In 2018, Alastair McAlpine, a palliative paediatrician in Cape Town, decided to share some inspiring thoughts from the children in his care. He posted: "I asked some of my terminal paediatric palliative care patients what they had enjoyed in life, and what gave it meaning. Kids can be so wise, y’know. Here are some of the responses". Their simple yet profound answers went viral, found their way into homes across the world and touched the hearts of millions.

As if the threat of a large-scale outbreak of an infectious disease isn’t enough to worry about, coronavirus has financial implications too. You might have read about the virtual shutdown of industries in some parts of the world and large falls in global stock markets and in the price of commodities such as oil.

Over the last decades, we have seen more than three dozen new infectious diseases appear, some of which could kill millions of people with one or two unlucky gene mutations or one or two unfavourable environmental changes. The risks of pandemics only increase as the human population grows; therefore to direct our future we should examine our past.

Epidemics and the Health of African Nations, explores Africa’s vulnerability to disease, and demonstrates that this disease occurs commonly because of political and economic influences. These factors also determine the way epidemics are managed and controlled.