Reference no: EM132322422

Case scenario:

You are on a medical team set up to assist a newly established island nation in dealing with a growing health crisis. The island nation had, in the past, been relatively isolated with only infrequent contact with other countries in the area. Up until 30 years ago they had almost no trade or commerce ties to larger, more developed countries and the shipping and air transportation to and from the island was very limited. Most of the island had consisted of small independent villages with no large centers of population. The villages had simple sanitation systems that sometimes were inadequate during hurricanes or monsoon rains and these events did cause some serious disease outbreaks that were brought under control by clinics set up by international emergency relief agencies. Thirty years ago, a large oil field was discovered on the island. Large areas of forest were cleared as the international oil companies flooded the island with equipment and personnel to extract the petroleum. This influx of people and technology brought the development of roads and the building of an international airport and a large shipping port. The presence of the oil companies with their large cadre of personnel and equipment in turn brought in other types of industries and economic opportunities. Much of the population began migrating to the population centers around the airport and port facility and modern cities were established and grew. With new technology and the development of a more sophisticated infrastructure centered on the urban areas, the country enjoyed remarkable economic growth as well as a respite from the disease outbreaks they had almost always experienced after severe weather events. Recently, however, with the population, the economy, development and urbanization, and international trade growing almost exponentially, there have been a number of outbreaks of diseases that the population had not seen for almost a generation.

Questions:

1. Discuss the factors of emerging/reemerging diseases as they apply to the nation in this scenario.
2. On the basis of factors of emergence/reemergence, discuss the possible courses of action to address and/or prevent future problems.