By Sharmili Das:
In a developing country people always strive for a healthy lifestyle due to increased work-pressure and rapid increase in pollution. Instead of a person’s consistent attempts to stay fit, one is still prone to all types of contagious and fatal diseases. The diseases affecting these countries are stroke, diabetes, respiratory diseases, cervical cancer, liver cirrhosis, obesity, high blood pressure, tuberculosis, HIV, hypertension and maternity problems.
Managing life in a developing country with each step is really very crucial and to top it, diseases pile upon one’s shoulders. Drastic levels of pollution push us more towards respiratory diseases like asthma where due to airway blockage if breathing stops, life stops too. Along with lung cancers, bronchial raptures are also frequent due to exposure to excessive polluting gases.
Diabetes is a common disease nowadays and even children get it from a very young age. Diabetes is the leading cause of new blindness, kidney disease and amputation. Maintaining a fast life makes one prone to diabetes and once one gets it, it follows throughout life. Increasing work-pressure and personal problems lead to hypertension easily. Tension results in high blood pressure increasing risk to life. The danger from hypertension is the extra load on the heart leading to complications such as hypertensive heart disease. Accompanying all these, there is also the risk of stroke where death occurs due to lack of oxygen supply to the brain causing permanent blockage.
Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers of the reproductive organs. Most cases of cervical cancer are caused by infection by human papillomavirus (HPV). Before cervical cancer spreads, the cells go through changes. Abnormal cells begin to appear in the cervical tissue. Regular screening for cancer can save women. Maternity problems are also effected by fast pace of life in a developing country which often leads to blocked fallopian tubes in women. It is the cause of infertility in 40% of working women.
Liver cirrhosis is also one of the fatal diseases in which the liver slowly deteriorates and malfunctions due to chronic injury. Scar tissues replace healthy liver tissue, partially blocking the flow of blood through the liver. With end-stage cirrhosis, the liver can no longer effectively replace damaged cells. Obesity is another killer – considered dangerous to health and life because excess body fat causes impairment of health. Obesity is a known risk factor for chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Tuberculosis is a very contagious disease of the respiratory system in fast growing countries. It quickly spreads throughout one’s body weakening the immune system. This is transmitted through coughing and sneezing, making one proceed slowly towards death. Another deadly disease is AIDS. HIV and AIDS are transmitted through sexual contact, by sharing needles when injecting drugs, or during childbirth and breastfeeding.
Diseases seem to engulf us in a developing country as we trudge along in our fast lives. We should be on our guard to stay fit and healthy and improving our immune system.