7. World problems in the 21st century

7. World problems in the 21st century

Global problems are the problems concerning the entire world. These problems are for example: criminality, wars, terrorism, pollution increase, diseases, drugs, environmental problems and many others.

- SOCIAL PROBLEMS - Social problems are mainly in highly developed countries and poor countries.

POVERTY It’s connected with globalization and also with population increase. Workers in developing countries live in poverty but the companies in the West get richer. The solving of this problem is fair trade. Fair means that the buyer pays a price that gives the producer enough money to live. Trade means buying and selling products between countries. In Britain is one organization called Tradecraft, which is trying to keep the fair trade. 2 billion people suffer from famine and every year many people die of hunger.

TERRORISM Terrorism is the great scare of the world, mostly in capital cities. It has its roots in Russia. Situation has changed after the 11th September 2001 when Al-Qaeda at the head with Osama bin Laden attacked the USA. Both buildings of the World Trade Center in New York crashed after two aircraft hit into them. From this attack became also the fear of anthrax.

HOMELESSNES This problem can be connected with drugs, alcoholism and unemployment. These people live under the bridges or sleep in the train station. They are dressed in poor dirty clothes. It is dangerous to be homeless because of illnesses and death from the cold. They don’t have money so they beg for money on the streets very often. Fortunately there are some churches and organizations that take care about them (shelters). This problem became very serious in America. There are as many as 3 million homeless people in US today.

RACISM Some people, racists, see themselves as a superior race and discriminate or attack the one, which they consider worse. One example of racism is called apartheid. It’s in South Africa and meant general discrimination of black South Africans.

UNEMPLOYMENT It usually appears in less developed areas of the country or where a large factory closed down. The least unemployment is in large cities where the companies always need employees. But they usually search for someone with higher level of education and specialization. However, each country has special programs for unemployed people to help them.

DISEASES There are many diseases that trouble us all over the world. Diseases are a big problem mainly in developing countries because there are not as good and available health services as in developed countries. Diseases can we contract from other people ( aids ), own body develops it itself ( cancer ) or some diseases are hereditary. But there are many really dangerous diseases ( Leprosy, TBC, Malaria and Cholera ). Most of them can be curable but some of them not. Very important is to bring information to people about the danger of these illnesses.

BIRD FLU It’s contagious illness, which infects mainly birds. This illness affects bird’s organs and then after 48 hours birds die. The flu is transmitted by bird’s spits and excrements. It can infect also people. The first case of the bird flu was reported in Italy. In the 27th of March the bird flu was reported in the Czech Republic. The symptoms of influenza are: temperature, cough, and headache.