Vocabulary in Context

Here are some words from section 3 that you may not have known. You either guessed their meaning from context or from your knowledge of word families, or you omitted the word and were still able to understand the sentence. Now check and learn the meanings of the words. Use your dictionary to help you.

facilities curative realistic commercial

profits sophisticated accessible to rapid(ly)

4. Prevention – Often Better Than Cure

In conclusion then, health care in both the industrial world and in the Third World would benefit if more attention were paid to prevention. In the industrial world, medical costs would fall, or at least increase less quickly than at present, because there would be less need for expensive drugs, equipment, and surgery. More importantly, people would enjoy better health. In the developing world, a greater emphasis on prevention might stop the increase in cancer and cardiovascular disease that traditionally has been asso­ciated with rising standards of living. Certainly, however, clean water, adequate sanitation, vaccination programs, and basic medi­cal care would eliminate or control the developing world's tradi­tional killer diseases. To provide these necessities for the entire population, of course, will require enormous supplies of vaccines, essential drugs, and basic equipment as well as building materials. Clearly many developing countries will not be able to afford these necessities without massive economic aid from wealthier countries. This assistance, however, will not be a waste of money if it is spent for primary health care. Its results will soon become clear: a better standard of health for the great majority of the population.

A Closer Look

1. What would happen if industrial countries paid more attention to the preven­tion of disease?

a. Third World countries would benefit.

b. Medical costs would rise.

c. The general health of the population would improve.

2. What do the health-care systems of the industrial world and the Third World have in common?

a. They are facing identical threats to the health of their populations.

b. They both would benefit from disease prevention.

c. They both need to improve the quality of their water.

3. What are the killer diseases that could be prevented by primary health care in the Third World?

a. serious genetic diseases

b. diseases like heart disease and cancer

c. diseases like diarrhea, polio, and measles

4. Many developing countries are not capable of financing primary health-care programs themselves. T / F

5. One advantage of primary health care programs is that they are cheap. T / F

6. Choose the sentence that best expresses the central idea of the whole article.

a. While heart disease and cancer are the diseases that most concern doctors in industrial countries, doctors in developing countries still have to solve the problem of diseases like diarrhea, diphtheria, and measles.

b. Despite different health problems, the health-care systems of both the in­dustrial world and the Third World would benefit if they placed a greater emphasis on the prevention of disease.

c. The industrial world and the Third World are facing very different health problems, which need very different solutions.

9 LISTENING