Editor's Note

Making a Difference

By Marion Harmon

In doing research for this issue’s cover story about global health disparities, I came across some startling statistics.

Today, a baby born in the United States can expect to live into his or her late 70s. At the turn of the last century, the average U.S. life expectancy was 47 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 1999 that the 30-year gain is due to clean drinking water, antibiotics, and other breakthroughs that have helped control infectious diseases.

Developing countries still struggle with infectious disease, unsafe water, and many other health problems. Large gains have been made in nearly wiping out some infectious diseases like polio—cases have declined by 99 percent (to 3,500) since the launch of the polio eradication initiative in 1988. But new diseases have taken their place—the HIV/AIDS epidemic is ravaging parts of Africa at an alarming rate.

Clean drinking water is a given in the United States, with 100 percent of people having access to safe drinking water. But worldwide, some 1.1 billion people still lack access. The lowest percentages are in the East Asia/Pacific region at 76 percent and sub-Saharan Africa at 57 percent.

Health and Community Services Professor Mark Tomita has networked with a large group of health care professionals to gather and disseminate crucial information to educate health care workers and public policy makers on global health disparities and other health issues. Tomita’s efforts encourage us to look more closely, see more clearly, and act more conscientiously. That’s one of the functions of a public university, and CSU, Chico is taking that responsibility seriously.