Longevity

     I decided to do this weeks blog on longevity. Which, basically, is how long someone can expect to live and is partially determined by environmental and genetic factors. There are three types of longevity:

• Average Life Expectancy: Sounds exactly like what it is :) This is the age at which half the people born in a specific year will have died.
• Useful Life Expectancy: This is the amount of time that an individual is free from debilitating chronic disease and impairment.
• Maximum Life Expectancy: The oldest age that someone lives.

     I chose this topic, mainly, because I'm a nerd and wanted to do a little more research on the differences in environmental factors playing a role in how long someone will live. I mean, I get the how the environment can play a huge part in how someone lives. I guess I was just a little confused at the huge age expectancy difference between Angola and Zambia, versus Madagascar. They are relatively close to one another, so I just assumed they would have kind of the same environmental factors... I was wrong (I know, I was shocked too :) and it turns out, Angola has 2 times the amount of homicides. But, as it turns out, there really aren't that many other differences between the two countries... So why the huge difference (20-25 years) in life expectancy? In fact, Angola is said to have 51% more access to sanitation that Madagascar, education levels are about the same, Angola has a higher level of sanitation, and the pollution levels aren't grossly different between the two.

     And then, I found it. HIV levels in Angola are 6 times higher than Madagascar, smoking is 81% higher, and clean water availability is 51% higher in Madagascar. Those are some pretty severe differences in life altering factors. I found it sad to see that water availability and HIV are main causes of death in Africa. It seems to me that if we all just kind of stepped in and helped a little, this could be resolved.

     Off subject a little :) I was listening to the radio around Christmas last year and the news lady was saying that if we all spent the money we spend on gifts for one another, and donated it, we would have enough to end homelessness ALL over the world. That little tid bit of information I found kind of disturbing. We have the ability to help others who don't have the resources to help themselves and yet we squander the money on pointless objects that we'll forget about in a few weeks anyways... Just seems like we all have some priorities to get in line. (Totally my opinion. I don't want to offend anyone :)

     Anyways, I thought it was weird to see all the differences in far away countries versus ones that are close to home. If you guys are interested, here's the web address:

http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Angola/Madagascar/Health

Also, here's a picture of world life expectancy :)

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

-Keisha