Globalization and the Spread of Infectious Diseases Globalization is a topic that has been around for centuries and is present phenomenon, but what is it exactly? Globalization is defined as a process of interaction and integration between people, companies, and governments of multiple different nations across the world (“What is Globalization?,” 2016). It is a process that has existed as long as international trade and will continue to exist as long as nations continue to buy and sell to one another. Globalization is a process that impacts people and communities all around the world that are participate in this kind of international relation. It covers a wide spectrum of forces such as, the environment, technology, different demographics, the economy, as well as multiple others. Globalization elicits a lot of changes within each of these forces, changes that have very wide spread effects on humans and on the communities that they inhabit. This topic is however very controversial and many arguments have been made in favor as well as against this process. “Proponents of globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has benefited multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people.” (“What is Globalization?,” 2016). Both sides of the argument hold very strong values and opinions that are influenced by factors such as health. The effects of Globalization on overall health, is a major concern for all nations. A topic that has been closely associated with Globalization is the greater spread of infectious diseases. Infectious diseases are those that are caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi and can be spread from one person to another either directly or indirectly (WHO, 2016). Direct contact is when an infectious disease is contracted by direct contact from one person to another person, an animal to a person, or from a mother to her unborn child. Indirect contact is when an infectious disease is contracted by coming in contact with an item that has been contaminated with the germs of the disease. Insect bites as well as food contamination are also common ways that infectious diseases are transferred. Mosquitos are well known for passing malaria onto humans through a bite and E. coli is a common disease that is transferred through the consumption of undercooked food. http://ps4h.org/communicable_diseases.html Understanding infectious diseases is a key component to understanding the relationship between them and Globalization. In the world today, approximately half of all deaths that are caused by infectious diseases can be traced back to three diseases: tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS (Networks, 2000). Tuberculosis, commonly referred to as TB, is a contagious disease that is caused by b ...

1. Globalization and the Spread of Infectious Diseases
Globalization is a topic that has been around for centuries
and is present phenomenon, but what is it exactly?
Globalization is defined as a process of interaction and
integration between people, companies, and governments of
multiple different nations across the world (“What is
Globalization?,” 2016). It is a process that has existed as long
as international trade and will continue to exist as long as
nations continue to buy and sell to one another. Globalization is
a process that impacts people and communities all around the
world that are participate in this kind of international relation.
It covers a wide spectrum of forces such as, the environment,
technology, different demographics, the economy, as well as
multiple others. Globalization elicits a lot of changes within
each of these forces, changes that have very wide spread effects
on humans and on the communities that they inhabit. This topic
is however very controversial and many arguments have been
made in favor as well as against this process. “Proponents of
globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their
citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of
living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation
of an unfettered international free market has benefited
multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense
of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people.”
(“What is Globalization?,” 2016). Both sides of the argument
hold very strong values and opinions that are influenced by
factors such as health.
The effects of Globalization on overall health, is a major
concern for all nations. A topic that has been closely associated
with Globalization is the greater spread of infectious diseases.
Infectious diseases are those that are caused by bacteria,
viruses, parasites or fungi and can be spread from one person to
another either directly or indirectly (WHO, 2016). Direct
contact is when an infectious disease is contracted by direct

2. contact from one person to another person, an animal to a
person, or from a mother to her unborn child. Indirect contact is
when an infectious disease is contracted by coming in contact
with an item that has been contaminated with the germs of the
disease. Insect bites as well as food contamination are also
common ways that infectious diseases are transferred.
Mosquitos are well known for passing malaria onto humans
through a bite and E. coli is a common disease that is
transferred through the consumption of undercooked food.
http://ps4h.org/communicable_diseases.html
Understanding infectious diseases is a key component to
understanding the relationship between them and Globalization.
In the world today, approximately half of all deaths that are
caused by infectious diseases can be traced back to three
diseases: tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS (Networks, 2000).
Tuberculosis, commonly referred to as TB, is a contagious
disease that is caused by bacteria that causes an infection that
spreads rapidly through the bloodstream to any of the body’s
organs. TB is contagious because of how easily it can be
transmitted through the air. Malaria is a disease that is
transmitted through a mosquitos bite and can be deadly if there
are no useful treatment drugs available. The mosquito bite
causes an infection that can develop into anemia, hypoglycemia,
or cerebral malaria, which is when capillaries carrying blood to
the brain are blocked (Maitland, 2016). AIDS or Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome is an incurable disease that is
caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. AIDS is
primarily transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids
during heterosexual intercourse and it is a fatal pandemic
(Networks, 2000). Other well-known infectious diseases that
have a presence all over the world are Hepatitis, Influenza,
Pneumonia, Meningitis, and Strep Throat. Majority of these
infectious diseases were once mass epidemics that eventually
died out and are recently making themselves present all over the
world.

3. There are multiple ways that infectious diseases impact the
different areas of globalization. One area of globalization that is
impacted by the spread of infectious diseases is the global
economy. “Economic globalization is the restructuring of the
world economy, from one centered on production and exchange
relations between economic entities located in different
countries (international economy), towards “a highly complex,
kaleidoscope structure involving the fragmentation of many
production processes and their geographical relocation on a
global scale in ways which slice through national boundaries”
(Saker, Lee, Cannito, Gilmore, & Campbell-Lendrum, 2004).
The world economy has opened tremendously within the past
few decades and there is an overwhelming amount of
opportunities to trade and invest in countries all around the
world. Nations are moving away from a strictly international
economy to a global one and it is having significant effects on
the spread of infectious diseases.
Infectious diseases become an economic concern when
they become so wide spread that it is necessary to take action
against them. Some of these actions would include research into
possible treatments or vaccinations, containment, and proactive
preventative measures. All of these possible actions are very
costly affairs and in low-income countries where these diseases
are prevalent, there isn’t enough government money or
resources to create the kind of facilities or resources that would
be necessary. International trade of certain products such as
food products and pharmaceutical products also creates a risk
for spreading certain infectious diseases.
There is also a strong relationship between infectious
diseases and technological globalization. The tremendous
advances in technology over the last century have made the
current globalization phenomenon possible. Communications,
travel, commerce, engineering, and health care technologies
have taken global interactions to a higher level (Saker, Lee,
Cannito, Gilmore, & Campbell-Lendrum, 2004). These massive
advances have led to positive and negative consequences in

4. relation to the spread of infectious diseases.
On the positive side, developments in medical technologies
across the world have had significant impacts on the detection
and treatments of infectious diseases. Scientists and medical
professionals from all nations have the opportunity to work
together and create products such as vaccines and treatment
plans to target dangerous and widespread infectious diseases to
prevent them from spreading even more than they already have
because of the technologies that globalization has brought
about.
The negative consequences of all of this technological
advancement are far greater than the positive outcomes. One of
the largest contributors to how wide spread infectious diseases
have become is the advancement of transportation technologies.
Traveling between countries has become a very accessible and
rather speedy affair. If one possesses the correct documentation
and funds, it is very easy to cross the borders into different
countries. International travel has become increasingly popular
over the past few years because of one how easy it is and two,
people tend to have a general curiosity about the world that
leads to the want to travel. When people follow this urge and
travel to low – income countries where a certain infectious
disease may be present and then these travelers continue on to a
different country or return home, they are potentially carrying
that disease to a whole new place. Thus, technological
advancements have indirectly led to the spread of infectious
diseases.
Continued look at the forces associated with globalization
and their relationship to infectious diseases shows a correlation
between the global demographic shift and the spread of disease.
A demographic shift is caused by the migration or immigration
of large groups of people and as previously stated, when people
travel from one nation to another, they have the potential to
create an epidemic in wherever their target location is. There
are a lot of driving forces in some countries that would cause
the citizens to want to make this kind of move to a different

5. country. Majority of the people that reside low-income
countries live in extreme poverty and filth. “Poverty,
overcrowding, repression and economic failure, for example,
not only encourage people to move but often lead to the
breakdown of public health infrastructure, and of provision of
housing, safe and sufficient drinking water, sanitation, and
education” (Saker, Lee, Cannito, Gilmore, & Campbell-
Lendrum, 2004). All of these are driving factors behind a shift
in the demographics that the world is experiencing. Other
factors may include but are not limited to that would cause mass
migration would be internal conflict and large amounts of
violence within a country, as well as natural disasters that
destroy parts of a country. With the ease of traveling that the
technological advances has created, why wouldn’t these
communities try to move somewhere where they can have a
greater quality of life?
Although, not all migration/immigration plans go as
planned for these people who seek a better life. Many people
travel to different countries and still live in poverty and terrible
conditions. In relation to infectious diseases, this means that
they are being carried from one country to another and instead
of treatments being found, they are simply spread throughout
the impoverished communities of the country before becoming
even more widespread. The people who are forced to flee their
countries and become refugees, simply do not have the time to
make accommodations in the country that they are fleeing to,
which leads to mass amounts of people living in refugee camps.
In the world today, the current Syrian civil war has brought
about extreme violence and things like airstrikes on the city of
Aleppo, Syria. This violence has cause tens of thousands of
Syrian people to flee and become refugees seeking somewhere
safe to reside in Turkey (Greenburg, 2016). Large amounts of
migration such as this create dangers in relation to infectious
diseases. The healthcare system in Syria has been drastically
reduced as a result of all of the violence and a major result of
this is that children are not being vaccinated for infectious

6. diseases such as polio, measles, and tuberculosis (Petersen,
Baekeland, Memish, & Leblebicioglu, 2013). This creates the
risk for the spread of these diseases into Turkey and the
multiple other countries where these people are seeking refuge.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/immigration
_data/region.htm
Economic globalization, technological globalization, and
the global demographic shift are all major factors that link
globalization to the greater spread of infectious diseases.
However, the most influential factor in the correlation between
infectious diseases and globalization is the global environment
change. Environment is a very broad term that is often mistaken
as being only the natural aspects of an environment. Yet,
environment refers to the social and built environments as well
as the natural one. This is important to distinguish because all
of these aspects of environment play an influential role in how
human health is shaped in a certain area. “Over the past 50
years, huge increases in economic and industrial activity have
led to unprecedented effects on air, land and water
environments, and the resulting changes have important and
wide – ranging implications for human health, with different
populations facing varying degrees of vulnerability to positive
and negative impacts.” (Saker, Lee, Cannito, Gilmore, &
Campbell-Lendrum, 2004). Global climate changes have been a
public concern in recent years and it continues to be a pressing
issue. The earth itself is warming and this rise of global
temperatures causes changes to happen in weather and climate
all over the world. To help provide an understanding of how
environments are affected it is important to know the difference
between global warming and climate change. Global warming
references the rise in average temperatures on near the earth’s
surface and it is caused in large part because of the rapidly
rising amounts of greenhouse gases that are present in the
earth’s atmosphere. Climate change is more related to major
changes that occur over periods of time in things such as;

7. temperature, rainfall, wind, and other significant weather
patterns. (“Climate Change: Basic Information,” n.d.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/09/yo
u-cant-deny-global-warming-after-seeing-this-
graph/?utm_term=.80502d32ece1
Whether or not there are significant impacts on human
health in the world based on the environment depends on a
multitude of factors. One of these factors would be the
vulnerability of a society to such changes as these. If the
country has the funds and resources to prepare for drastic
changes than the health impacts are likely to be significantly
less than the effects an environmental change would have on a
society that doesn’t have the resources to prepare for a large
climate shift. To be more specific, high income and wealthy
countries have the means to create buildings and structures that
could withstand high temperatures or natural disasters, as well
as have health policies in place to prevent the spread of diseases
in case the problem were to arise. On the other hand, low
income countries that are susceptible to infectious diseases
already, will be more vulnerable to the health effects of climate
change because of their lack of ability to prepare for things such
as natural disasters or extreme heat/cold.
The spread of infectious diseases in the world is on the
rise and the rapidly changing environment is increasing the
ability of these diseases to travel from person to person and
country to country. Some ways in which infectious diseases are
taking advantage of the environment to become more wide
spread is through water and deforestation and land clearance.
Water is a forever changing, but always constant part of the
environment, natural and social. It is one of the three basic
needs to survive and so it will always have major role to play in
the lives and health of the human race. In high income and well-
developed countries such as the United States of America, water
is not something that people worry about safely consuming
whenever they need to. However, this is not the case in a large

8. part of the world. Freshwater is not a common resource in many
low income and developing countries and that means that the
water they have access to is often contaminated or heavily
concentrated with salt. This becomes in issue in relation to the
spread of infectious diseases because many infectious bacteria
live in water and when the climate changes and causes things
such as water warming up, or natural disasters that pollute
rivers, lakes, and dams, the bacteria thrive and multiply rapidly.
Outside of natural environmental causes, there are also many
man-made causes that could lead to infectious diseases being
spread through water. Some of these causes would include
construction along rivers and other bodies of water, more
commonly waste pollution contaminating water resources. All
of these factors create prime conditions for the bacteria that
cause infectious diseases to multiply and come in contact with
humans.
Deforestation and land clearance are factors that have in
recent years and historically contributed to the detriment of
health conditions and the greater spread of infectious diseases
around the world. The need for deforestation is driven by
humanities increasing need for space to live and develop, the
need for land to cultivate crops, as well as the need for different
kinds of fuel. Also, “the expansion and liberalization of trade
has played an important role in making deforestation more
financially attractive to countries consumed by debt.” (Saker,
Lee, Cannito, Gilmore, & Campbell-Lendrum, 2004) The
globalization phenomenon has created this financial opportunity
with trade and many developing countries have seen this as an
opportunity to advance their countries. Deforestation gives way
to logging as an industry that is popular in the global trading
market, but there are many negative consequences that come
from clearing mass amounts of land.
The forests themselves provide health benefits to an
environment and its communities. Benefits such as shade
protection from the sun, forests absorb carbon dioxide that is in
the air and places for animals to reside without interfering with

9. the human societies. When the forests are cleared, temperatures
are likely to rise, animals will be more inclined to human
contact, and when people migrate to the cleared areas they are
exposing themselves to areas where they are non – immune. One
of the main infectious diseases that arise in areas of large
amounts of deforestation is malaria. This is likely because the
forests are no longer their to collect moisture from rain and the
air and this creates areas of rain water run off that are breeding
areas for mosquitoes that carry the malaria infection. (Saker,
Lee, Cannito, Gilmore, & Campbell-Lendrum, 2004) “In 2015
an estimated 214 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide
and 438,000 people died” (CDC, 2016). Malaria is a potentially
life threatening disease that is linked to globalization because
of its presence in different environments and the ability it has to
spread from continent to continent through travelers and
immigrants.
http://sevencolors.org/post/hunger-and-malaria-infographics
Overall, the global environment and how it is rapidly
changing creates a lot of pressures and insecurities surround
infectious diseases and the overall health of populations. There
are just so many potential disasters that could immediately
bring about an infectious disease epidemic and so little
countries that could withstand this kind of problem.

10. Citations
CDC. (2016, November 1). Malaria. Retrieved December 5,
2016, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/
Climate Change: Basic Information. Retrieved December 6,
2016, from US Environmental Protection Agency,
https://www.epa.gov/climatechange/climate-change-basic-
information
Clinic, M. (2016, January 5). Infectious Diseases. Retrieved
December 5, 2016, from Mayoclinic,
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/infectious-
diseases/symptoms-causes/dxc-20168651
Greenburg, J. (2016, September 08). “What is Aleppo?” We’ll
explain it to you, and Gary Johnson. Retrieved December 6,
2016, from Politifact, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-
meter/article/2016/sep/08/what- aleppo-well-explain-it-you-
and-gary-johnson/
History of Globalization. (2004, July ). Retrieved December 8,
2016, from BEREA,
https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/BERA/issue1/history.html
Maitland, D. (2016). What is Malaria? Retrieved December 6,

11. 2016, from Malaria No More,
https://www.malarianomore.org/pages/what-is-malaria
Networks2016Sandbox. (2000). Common infectious diseases
worldwide. Retrieved December 5, 2016, from Infoplease,
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903696.html
Petersen, E., Baekeland, S., Memish, Z., & Leblebicioglu, H.
(2013). Infectious disease risk from the Syrian
Conflict. International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Retrieved from http://Infectiousdisease risk from the
Syrian conflict (2013). International Journal of
Infectious diseases, 17, . Retrieved from
http://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(13)00200-
2/pdf
Saker, L., Lee, K., Cannito, B., Gilmore, A., & Campbell-
Lendrum, D. (2004). Globaliztion and infectious diseases:
A review of the linkages. Social, Economic and Behavioral
(SEB) Research. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/documents/seb_topic3.
pdf
The Basics of Tuberculosis. (2015, March 18). Retrieved
December 5, 2016, from WebMD,
http://www.webmd.com/lung/understanding-tuberculosis-basics
What is Globalization? (2016). Retrieved December 5, 2016,
from Globalization 101,
http://www.globalization101.org/what-is-globalization/
WHO. (2016, January 22). Infectious diseases. Retrieved

12. December 5, 2016, from World Health Organization,
http://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/en/
The Personal Leadership Puzzle (PLP) will reflect your self-
evaluation of your real self today as well as the ideal self you
hope to become. It will encompass all elements developed
during the course between the beginning of the semester
through the week before Thanksgiving.
The PLP will be an autobiography about you. This “book”
should include the following elements:
•Book cover – author name, title of book, and 3-5 pictures with
captions. The title, pictures and captions should be as
‘authentic’ as possible.
•Table of Contents – this will enable you to organize your self-
evaluation.
•Chapters – the book can have as many chapters as you would
like, but should reflect the various elements reviewed during
class (e.g. real self, defining moments, ideal self, leadership
orientations – to only name a few).
•Appendices – (1) Lifeline; (2) Leadership Self-Study (see
additional Self Study handout).
The paper should be typed, double-spaced, and between 10—20
pages (the book cover, table of contents, and appendices no not
count toward that page total). It should follow APA formatting
with no greater than 12-point font.
The grade for this autobiography will encompass the following
parts:
•Authenticity of title and pictures in relation to book content
(15%).
•Application of all worksheets and class exercises in your self-

13. evaluation, exhibited in your discussion throughout the book
(30%).
•Quality of self-evaluation in relation to worksheets and class
exercises (40%).
•Quality of writing and organization – APA format, spelling,
grammar, sentence structure, and overall organization of the
book (15%)
The grade will NOT be an assessment of ‘who you are’ and
‘who you want to be.’ That is a personal process that is unique
to you and is not to be judged by the instructor. The grade
WILL, however, be an assessment of how diligently you have
engaged in the process of self-evaluation during the first part of
the semester, evidenced by the application of the self-
evaluations that have been conducted throughout the course
within the autobiography.
Tips:
•Use terminology from this course. If you are talking about a
moment that changed your life, be sure to call it a “crucible” or
a “defining moment” so that the instructor(s) are clearly able to
connect your story to what you’ve learned in the course. Make
it clear to be instructor(s) where you are drawing your ideas
from.
•Provide structured writing. An introduction and conclusion for
the paper are appropriate. An introduction, conclusion, and
transitions for each chapter are also appropriate. Be sure to set
up the paper in a way that a complete stranger would know the
purpose of the assignment and would know what to expect in
the remainder of your paper. Have the conclusion re-state your
main ideas so the reader is left with a few solid concepts and
thoughts from your paper.
•Provide a proper amount of depth. If you indicated that
something changed your life or that something is a thing you
value more than anything else in your life, a few sentences is
simply not sufficient. Go into detail. Tell the instructor(s) why
the events/situations/ concepts are important to you. What you

14. write in your paper is confidential and will not be viewed by
anyone besides the course instructor(s).