Curse of infections
The re-emergence of infectious diseases has become a matter of global concern; about 17 million of the 52 million deaths last year were classified as owing to infectious diseases. Changes in lifestyle and behaviour is an important factor in the emergence of some infectious diseases, particularly those that are sexually transmitted. Dl1fing the past 20 years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged to threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people. For many of these diseases there is no treatment, cure or vaccine and the possibility of preventing or controlling them is limited. New approaches to disease prevention and control are needed which would focus oil breaking transmission chains and on ecological approaches that facilitate the participation of local and global communities.