Health is a topic that is close to everybody's heart. We want to be healthy but, even if we consider ourselves to be so, we almost certainly know, or have known, people who are not. And it is invariably distressing if a person who is close to us - such as a member of the family or a friend - suddenly falls ill.

Part of the reason is that illness, or even death, can defy logical explanation. It can seem to be the luck of the draw whether one falls ill or not. "Why me? Why have I fallen ill when all of my friends and family seem healthy?"

There are, of course, reasons, and it is important to stand back and examine some of them, in order to suggest what might be done if people are to have a chance of leading healthy lives. This is what this Part attempts to do. It examines what we mean by "health" which parts of the world are apparently healthy and which are disease-prone and some of the reasons for these differences. Finally it looks at some possible courses of action.

Activity One

Examine the following photographs and try to answer the questions that accompany each one.

Do not try to find a "right" or a "wrong" answer in each case because there aren't any. Simply state what you think.

This picture shows a baby in Uganda. Does the baby appear to be unhealthy?

Yes? No?
Please write one sentence that explains your answer

This picture shows a shanty town beside a railway in Java. Would you expect the people in the photograph to lead generally healthy lives? Yes? No?
Please write one sentence that explains your answer

This picture shows a nursery school outing in England. Would you expect the people in this photograph to grow up leading generally healthy lives?

Yes? No?
Please write one sentence that explains your answer

This picture shows a Cuban doctor giving an oral vaccine to a Misquito Indian in Nicaragua. Do you think that widespread inoculation contributes significantly to healthier lives among poor people?

Yes? No?
Please write one sentence that explains your answer

This photograph shows a hospital in northern Uganda, where the patient is suffering from a tropical disease (probably sleeping sickness). Do you think that more hospitals will help make the world a healthier place in which to live?

Yes? No?
Please write one sentence that explains your answer

On the next page, I'll give you my answers - how do they compare with yours?

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