​        Despite the advances in medical technology, there is still a lack of resources to prevent diseases such as AIDS, cancer, and malaria. Valuable resources such as trained doctors and vaccines are not concentrated in the areas of the world that need them most because those countries do not have the money to provide them for their people. However, there is still hope. Organizations such as UNICEF and the Red Cross provide the aid poverty-stricken nations desperately need for more of their citizens to survive. The toll on human health as well as the economic burden that these diseases inflict upon countries makes it even more imperative to find a cure. HIV/AIDS, cancer, and malaria may have suitable treatments, but for people who have poor or no health care, the cost of these treatments makes it impossible to pay for them. 



         If Americans believe there is a healthcare crisis here, I cannot imagine what it's like for third world countries who don't even have a sufficient supply of highly-trained doctors. I noticed a specific trend among all the treatments for the diseases I researched: they're all expensive. If an American can't afford to pay for chemotherapy in a developed, technologically advanced country, then a poor cancer patient in Congo has no hope. An obvious solution would be do decrease the price of treatments; but that's much easier said than done. Another solution would be to improve international healthcare, and yet, if the US can't even solve its own economic troubles, it would probably be asking a little much to sort out the rest of the world's finances. However, there are national healthcare plans that benefit those of low income. If other countries were to model after Obamacare, which covers HIV-testing, then their people might have a higher chance of getting the treatment they need, no matter their economic status. 



         A resource almost as valuable as money when it comes to healthcare are the professionals. We are limited by the technology of our time, until an individual makes the next discovery. Medical innovations did not build themselves, and so what the world needs are the well-educated men and women in the medical field who either be educated in the countries that need them most or travel to them. Medical technicians, doctors, nurses, surgeons,scientists, researchers, etc. are all needed to perform the testing and develop the technology needed to combat these diseases. Better and cheaper medical education is needed in countries that are short on professionals. Information that may be common knowledge in developed countries  may be unheard of in some regions. Volunteers who travel to these regions to spread awareness of the causes of diseases and infection can help prevent the number of reported cases. It is obvious that there are many problems with medicine - the equipment's not portable, it's not cheap, pharmacy lines are long, the hospital is overcrowded, the hospital's short on staff, there's a never ending list of side-effects for every drug, treatments are painful, cold medicine still tastes awful - and yet, we have five unnecessary versions of the iPhone. The world needs an MRI machine that can be easily taken on a plane to Africa, not a cellphone that is .2 cm slimmer than its predecessor. 



         I predict that malaria could be completely extinguished in fifty years. From 1900 to 1951, the disease was completely eradicated from the US so we know that it's definitely inside the realm of possibility. I believe that a cure for cancer is definitely on the horizon. As for AIDS/HIV, it is completely preventable and all that must be spread is awareness. In fifty years, I think that the case will be very rare but still exist. Judging from the huge medical advancements mankind has made as a result of technological innovations, there is no doubt in my mind that all of these ailments will severely decline in the decades to follow.