Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view any item where appears. If you don't have the Acrobat PDF viewer, click here to download it for free . It's easy and takes just a few minutes to install. Overview Since 1986, thousands of secondary school students have been introduced to the U.N. system and encouraged to think about America's role in the world organization through UNA-USA's annual nationwide essay contest, initiated by the 1985 National U.N. Day Chair, Ambassador Peter H. Dailey. The contest is currently sponsored by UNA-USA and The Ross Institute.
Infectious diseases remain among the world's leading causes of death.
The CIA estimates that these diseases account for about one quarter of the deaths worldwide in 1998. In developing nations, these numbers increase dramatically, up to 45 percent in low-income African and Asian countries and 63 percent among children under age five globally. Since 1973, over thirty new infectious diseases have been discovered and twenty well-known diseases have reemerged or spread geographically. Recently, a new strain of tuberculosis, one resistant to multi-drug vaccines and treatments, has surfaced. In addition, diarrheal infections cause some 2.2 million deaths worldwide with 60 percent of this sickness occurring among children under five years of age.