Essay Monetary Spending Convenience

FINANCING A SPATIAL LUXURY OR DECREASING DEATHS

Author:

Diego Vásquez Araus.

Class:

Academic and Formal Writing

Professor:

Yasmina Rios Atenas.

UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLÓGICA DE CHILE

Traducción Inglés Español, Mención Negocios Internacionales

Inacap La Serena, 2013.

INTRODUCTION

The spirit possessing humans drives them to explore, to find something new, and to pursue more knowledge about something. The Universe or “The Last Frontier”, as a lover of special science fiction would say, is the place that is not known entirely, and that catches the attention of many people, especially astronomers. Humankind is interested in what is there, how it is and we want to see it. We often hear that space exploration requires high monetary investment, and even the cosmos is a luxury to the human eye sight, there are many challenges on Earth before venturing beyond the atmosphere. That is why people suggest that instead of spending money on space exploration projects, investments should be made to solve a major problem on Earth, namely: health. Thus, today there are major diseases that require more health care, for example: cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer and chronic respiratory diseases (CDRs); for these reasons, the monetary investments will be compared in order to oppose to space exploration projects.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most renowned by doctors and scientists, as it presents a number of problems and cases of deaths. A 48% of the total world population dies from the NCDs1, according to the World Health Statistics (WHSs)2. Among the risk factors that these conditions have are considered: obesity, tobacco consumption, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol, which are responsible for approximately 80% of reported cases according to World Health Organization. In 2008, it has been recorded about 17.3 million deaths, which represent 30% of all deaths in the world. Similarly, it is confirmed that over 80% of deaths occur in countries of low and middle income3. Monetary expenses that are carried out in the treatment of these diseases tend to increase the cost, while the money supply decreases. For example, the average per capita expenditure between regions of WHO is U.S. $ 48 million of dollars in the South-East Asia and U.S. $ 3.187 million of dollars in the Region of the Americas2. Furthermore, in low-income countries, the per capita spending records are U.S. $ 25 million of dollars and, in high-income countries, the per capita spending are U.S. $ 4.692 million of dollars.

Globally, cancer is another major disease that reaches high levels of mortality. This generic term refers to a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body, and its main feature is the rapid multiplication of abnormal cells. The tobacco and alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity are the main risk factors of cancer worldwide. Other factors are the infectious agents, which are viruses that have the ability to transform into cancer cells, such as: a) human papilomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer; and b) the Epstein Barr and lymphoma. In addition to the risk factors, there are certain types of radiations affecting human health, for example: X-rays, radioactive rays and ultraviolet rays from sun exposure, which can cause damage to DNA, causing cancer. At the carcinoma is attributed 7.6 million deaths (around 21% of total) occurred worldwide2. Over 70% of deaths from lung, breast, colorectal, esophagus or liver cancer, were recorded in countries of low and middle income. In contrast to high income countries, the leading causes of cancer death are lung cancer in men, and breast cancer in women2. It is estimated that in 2020 the cancer death rate will double to 100%2. Therefore, the monetary costs of cancer treatments are so high, that every year up to 10% of the population in countries of low

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