Globalization and Infectious Diseases

1 Sep 2004

Source: WHO/TDR (see original article)

Comments

Review published in the "Special Topics in Social, Economic and Behavioural (SEB) Research" Series, No. 3, published by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), World Health Organization, Geneva.

Available online PDF at: www.who.int

Globalization is driven and constrained by a number of forces: economic processes, technological developments, political influences, cultural and value systems, and social and natural environmental factors. There is much to be understood about how the wide-ranging changes are impacting on infectious diseases; this publication reviews the existing evidence about the links between globalization and infectious diseases in terms of changes in disease distribution, transmission rates and, in some cases, management of disease.