Hunger will kill more people than coronavirus this year

[jberryhill]

If you weren’t on DU for Ebola, you might want to do some looking through Ebola threads in 2014.

If you do, you’ll find out we’re all dead by now.

Hunger directly kills between 2 and 3 million people a year. Hunger related illnesses kill millions more. One of the other biggest killers is diarrhea and other illnesses related to lack of access to clean water.

I will guarantee you that hunger and diarrhea are going to kill many millions - millions - more people this year than coronavirus.

But we don’t fear hunger or lack of access to clean water. These things are effectively prevented by the simple step of “having money”.

And that’s why we flip out over things like this. Ebola and coronavirus can’t be prevented with money.

Yes, a coordinated and intelligent response is required to deal with an emerging viral disease with relatively high communicability and lethality. But even with the estimated 4% mortality rate, your odds of surviving Ebola are a whole lot better than the odds of surviving without food, which doesn’t bother us as much because the millions to whom that is going to happen without our attention or concern are already effectively quarantined.

[dweller]

1. The Kin of Ata

Are Waiting for You

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kin_of_Ata_Are_Waiting_for_You

✌🏼

[dalton99a]

2. Influenza has already sickened at least 13 million Americans

Influenza rarely gets this sort of attention, even though it kills more Americans each year than any other virus, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Influenza has already sickened at least 13 million Americans this winter, hospitalizing 120,000 and killing 6,600, according to the CDC. And flu season hasn’t even peaked. In a bad year, the flu kills up to 61,000 Americans.

Worldwide, the flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/01/24/coronavirus-versus-flu-influenza-deadlier-than-wuhan-china-disease/4564133002/

[Phoenix61]

3. Lack of clean water is a massive health crisis

but it isn’t treated that way. Shame on all of us.

[The_jackalope]

4. The novelty is what makes coronavirus so frightening.

We're kind of used to world hunger and bad water. Plus hunger isn't communicable by airliner.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. So will lots of other things, JB......such as.....

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_causes_of_death_by_rate





It's always amazed me how we drive cars with absolutely no feeling of fear on two lane roads at relative speeds to other cars of well over 120mph, yet some panic at the thought of a few bacteria on kitchen counters or a few spiders in the house.

Looking at that table, perhaps we should panic more at the though of eating at McDonald's or Waffle House.....

Agree with what you're saying, JB except for this: The initiation and spread of Ebola and coronavirus can be drastically reduced with money if funds were available to educated people in extreme poverty on the dangers of eating wild meat (Ebola originated from eating wild monkey meat) and on proper safety in food preparations. I believe it's strongly suspected the coronavirus originated in an open market in the city of origin, where every sort of wild and non-monitored food product imaginable is sold.

So long as the world is unwilling to address conditions of extreme poverty, poor health and nutritional education, and poor healthcare availability, outbreaks of this nature will continue.

[malaise]

6. Great post

Rec

[cwydro]

7. I remember the Ebola threads.

They were sometimes funny, but often appalling.

At least one poster claiming the sick patients deserved what they got and should not be allowed into the states for treatment.

[crickets]

9. Coronavirus is nothing to take lightly, but

getting in a panic over it serves no constructive purpose. Thanks all for an excellent discussion giving much needed (if somewhat depressing) perspective to the situation.

K&R for visibility

[lindysalsagal]

10. Not to mention

Gunz
Poverty
Gang Violence
Car Accidents w/o alcohol
Child Neglect/Abuse
Illness