LAS

When is malaria most intense in Latin America?

Although malaria is evident in Latin America all year long it intensifies at the end of the dry season.

What country has the highest grams of protein in its diet?

Argentina has the highest grams of protein in its diet.

What is automedication?

Auto-medication is the tradition of medicating ones self.

What is "black vomit"?

Black vomit is a viral disease that is transferred by aedes aeqypti mosquito. This viral disease is also known at yellow fever.

What is Cholera? Why is it so lethal?

Cholera is a type of diarrhea that is extremely lethal because a person can die within 10 hours of being exposed to this bacterium.

How do the life expectancies of Costa Rica and Haiti compare?

Costa Rica's life expectancy is significantly higher than Haiti's. Costa Rica's is at 79 years while Haiti's is only at 51.

What is dengue?

Dengue fever is a fatal viral disease that resides within mosquitos. This disease causes blood vessel to leak within the victims.

What % of women in Latin America breastfeed when their infants are 0-6 months old?

Even though breastfeeding has various benefits, sadly there is only 38% of women in Latin America who breastfeed their infants.

How does Latin America's physical/geographic environment relate to specific diseases?

In Latin America the temperatures are warm providing an environment where disease-bearing organisms are able to live.

What is hypoxia?

In the Latin American highlands there are challenges such as hypoxia, which is the lack as the elevation increases.

What is ORT? (Oral Rehydration Therapy)

It was the best treatment for childhood dehydration in the 1950s. The solution is made up of 8 teaspoons of sugar, one-teaspoon salt, and a quart of water which helps to rehydrate people with diarrhea.

Look at the map of life expectancy on page 400. Comments? Observations?

My observations on this map are the majority of Latin America lives between the ages of 67-73. There are also a few countries that live longer than 74 such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, French Guiana, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Cuba. In addition there are some countries that don't make it past 66 such as Bolivia, Guatemala, Haiti and Guyana but no countries life expectancy is less 59 or less.

What are some of the criticisms of ORT?

One criticism I found in the book about ORT is that it doesn't focus on the long term prevention of diarrhea.

What are the 2 forms of malnourishment?

One form of malnourishment is the lack of vitamins and minerals. Without vitamins and minerals a person can develop certain diseases for example, the book states "Vitamin A deficiency is associated with eye disease and blindness, a shortage of Vitamin B with beriberi and pellagra, Vitamin C with scurvy and Vitamin D with rickets. Similarly, a deficiency of iron leads to anemia, and insufficient quantities of iodine can cause goiters, mental retardation, and neuromuscular disorder"(Clawson 404). A second form of malnourishment is protein deficiency.

What are 2 of the most effective ways to increase dietary protein intake among the young?

One of the most effective ways to increase dietary protein intake among the young the book states "promote proper prenatal and postnatal nutrition of mothers and to encourage breastfeeding or nursing of their babies"(Clawson 407).

What are some of the environmental health issues related to urban centers?

Some environmental health issues include air pollution, water pollution, solid waste pollution, emotional disorder, soil pollution, visual pollution, noise pollution, thermal pollution and radioactive contamination.

According to the author, what is the best measure of overall human health?

The best way to measure overall human health is by measuring the levels of clean water, food and health care. Life expectancy.

Look at page 406. What countries have the lowest caloric intake?

The countries that have the lowest intake were also some of the countries with the lowest life expectancy, which include Bolivia, Haiti and Guatemala. Nicaragua and Panana also have one of the lowest calorie intakes within the Latin American countries.

How does highland peoples' physical structure differ from that of lowland peoples?

The highland people experience respiratory problems like bronchitis and pneumonia where the lowlands people do not have these problems.

1. The first part of Chapter 13 focuses on economic development. What is the focus of the 2nd part?

The second part of chapter 13 is focused on the health and nutrition growth in Latin America.

What is one way in which undernourishment is measured?

The simplest way to measure undernourishment is to measure how many calories a population takes intakes day and average it.

Look at the table on page 407. What country has the lowest child mortality rate? The highest?

The table shows that Cuba has the lowest mortality rate at 9 for every thousand that is born and the highest mortality rate is in Haiti at 123 per thousand children born.

How does life expectancy in Latin America compare to other regions in the world?

Their life expectancy in Latin America in 1960 and 2004 were both higher than the overall worlds. They came in 2nd place following the high-income countries both years this was surveyed.

Latin America has made great advances in access to potable water and improvement s in sanitation in recent decades. That said, why do health authorities still worry about water, sanitation, and health?

There are 3 concerns why health authorities still worry about water sanitation and health in Latin America. The first being that although there has been more access to portable waters there is still 14% of the population that lacks portable water, the second concern is the even though Latin American countries say they have safe water it might not actually be cleaned based on the criteria used to define safe. While it might look clean it still could have bacteria, viruses and other diseases. Finally the last concern the book states is "the direct link between contaminated water and number of serious diseases including diarrhea intestinal worms infestation, eye an skin infections, schistosomiasis typhoid and cholera.