People's Century 17 - 1954: Living Longer (1/4)

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5VwN8v0l3k
Medical advances allow people to live longer and healthier lives. Penicillin is developed in time to save lives during the Second World War. After the war national public health institutions are established, and national and international efforts are directed towards treatments against infectious diseases including typhus, tuberculosis and polio. Smallpox, the scourge of developing countries, is also eradicated. As deaths from infectious diseases are reduced, population booms in those developing countries with high birth rates -- China and India take measures to promote family planning. Cholera becomes a risk in countries with insufficient sanitation to prevent water-borne diseases. AIDS spreads in Africa and elsewhere, and unlike other diseases appears untreatable. By the 1990s health in the developing world has much improved, and reduced infant mortality rates have lowered birth rates across the world.

People's Century is a television documentary series examining the 20th century. It was a joint production of the BBC in the United Kingdom and PBS member station WGBH Boston in the United States. First shown on BBC in 1995, the 26 parts of one hour deal with the socio-economic, political, and cultural movements that shaped the 20th century. The documentary won an International Emmy Award, among others.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• people
• peoples
• century
• episode
• 17
• living
• longer
• medical
• breakthroughs
• 20th