The world is an ever-smaller place. Advances in transport and telecommunications have bridged enormous geographic divides. With a click on my phone I can Skype a friend on the other side of the world, or step outside my office and find produce from around the globe for sale in the local supermarket.
Yet, for all the many advantages of globalisation for trade and tourism, there is another side of the coin. It is not only holidaymakers that travel by air.
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. Last year, it killed an estimated 1.5 million people. In 1993 the World Health Organisation declared TB a ‘global health emergency’ since then over 40 million people have died from the disease. It is airborne, infectious, and found in every country in the world.
In the UK, and indeed in much of the developed world, most people think that TB is no longer a threat. Indeed, rates have fallen dramatically over the last century, and the disease has fallen off the radar. Yet, any public health professional will tell you that TB is still a problem in many parts of the UK. London is known as the TB capital of Western Europe. Birmingham has even higher rates of the disease. To complete the picture, the BCG, the TB vaccine that many of us received as children, offers negligible protection past the age of 15.
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