Synopsis  About 300 years ago a new era started in Europe. It was not yet the era of enlightenment but it was already at the threshold of scientific takeoff. It was the time of Galileo Galilei, Leibnitz, Newton, Descartes and countless others who contributed their share to science, either on the theoretical or on the practical level. It was an exciting time, full of hope for the future.
The new openness to scientific thought and their application to day-to-day life gave its sign in the field of medicine too. That was the time of Harvey who discovered that life was maintained by the blood in the veins and arteries. As a direct outcome to the developments in the field of medicine and public health, there was a specific outcome among many others, and that was the reduction of the mortality rate of babies.There were three major factors that caused that outcome:
The reduction of the mortality rate of children started an inflationary demographic explosion. It raised the world's population from 791 million people in 1750 to an estimated 8909 million people in 2050, It is an increase of population by a factor of 11 in a period of 300 years. Never before was such a rate of increase. The demographic explosion started in Europe, peaked in 1900 and it has ended in 2000. The direct results of that demographic explosion are listed below: :
Colonization brought European countries into direct rule in tropical areas, They came there to exploit them, but as sovereign rulers they also introduced European practices into the health services, which caused the same demographic explosion as it caused in Europe in the 18th century. The second phase of the demographic explosion started in late 19th century and reached its peak in the middle of the 20th century. It is estimated that the present wave will not end before the middle of the 23rd century. When the former colonial powers, meaning countries of western civilizations, realized the extent of the danger from the runaway demographic increase, they decided first to cut their losses, and abandoned the colonies. That was the process of decolonization. The second step was the separation of the world into two parts:
The connection between the two parts of the world, is supply of cheap labor and raw materials from the poor world to the rich, and supply of agricultural, industrial and cultural products to the poor world from the rich part. There is also a diminishing quantity of humanitarian relief. It is diminishing because the growing quantities of need. that even the riches of the rich world cannot supply. |
