The World :-A different view     34

We continue the series (see Natl Med J India 2006:19:234–5, 293, 334).

In Map 1, the size of each territory is shown proportional to the number of people affected by tuberculosis that lived there in the year 2003.1 Worldwide, the number of cases of tuberculosis in 2003 was 8.7 million, i.e. 123 persons per 100 000 population, including 5.6 million in Asia and 2.5 million in Africa. India tops the list with 1.8 million cases of tuberculosis, followed closely by China (1.32 million), Indonesia (0.62 million), Nigeria (0.35 million) and Bangladesh (0.35 million). The density of cases per unit population is much higher in Africa (300 per 100 000 population) than in Asia (148 per 100 000 population); the density in India is 168 cases per 100 000 population.

In Map 2, the size of each territory is shown proportional to the number of cases of polio recorded between the years 2000 and 2005.2 India and Nigeria recorded the most number of cases—2508 and 2120, respectively. Worldwide, the number of new cases of polio fell each year from 2971 in the year 2000 to 155 in 2005. In 2005 polio was detected in just 9 territories.

1. http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/display.php?selected=228#. (accessed on 20 November 2006.)

2. http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/display.php?selected=235#. (accessed on 20 November 2006.)