TROPICAL MEDICINE - CURRENT PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Tropical medicine traditionally refers to the group of infectious and nutritional diseases that are particularly prevalent in areas defined geographically as tropical and subtropical. These are areas inhabited by three quarters of the world population and are characterized by maj or economic and developmental features that are in many ways different from the ''developed world.'' The two most significant characteristic s with implications to health are demographics and economics. The demo graphically developing countries have age distributions that are young in contrast to the uniform and older population of developed countrie s. Furthermore, the demographically developing regions correspond to c ountries with low- or middle-income economies. Although health has imp roved in the developing countries, all indications still point to unac ceptably low levels when compared with developed countries. This artic le focuses on the major infectious diseases contributing to these diff erences.