Watching the World

African Crisis

Two decades of famine, drought, and debt have produced an “extraordinary crisis” in Africa​—so severe that it “can be compared to the effects of a world war,” says a U.S. report by the Committee on African Development Strategies. It adds: “Its proportions are mythic, its severity almost impossible for the rest of the world to imagine or comprehend.” As reported in The Express of Easton, Pennsylvania, the panel’s findings noted that the African “continent contains more than 20 of the world’s poorest 34 countries,” the world’s highest population growth rate, and “a critical shortage of trained professionals.” Agricultural production, already unable to supply Africa’s needs, is expected to decline in some of the African nations. The panel made a number of recommendations that will require “sacrifices,” noting that “Africa’s situation is not hopeless.”

Young Smokers

More children smoke than do adults, according to a recent South Australian survey. The survey of 3,000 schoolchildren was sponsored by the Australian Cancer Society. As reported in The Australian, when asked if they had smoked the previous week, 40 percent of the 16-year-olds admitted to having done so. Only 27 percent of adults say they smoke. A number of younger children​—8 percent of 15-year-olds and 1 percent of 12-year-olds—​even claim to be chain-smokers. Overall, more girls than boys smoked. Most of the students believed they could give up smoking any time they wished.

Nutrition at Work

From large multinational corporations to small family-run establishments, businesses and manufacturers in the United States are promoting good nutrition at the workplace, reports The New York Times. The advocates claim that on-the-job nutritional and physical fitness programs lower their employee health-care costs, improve work output, and create a happy work force. “The programs may be as simple as changing the cafeteria menu to a more healthful selection of food or as elaborate as . . . a 37,000-square-foot [3,440-sq-m] physical fitness facility with swimming pool, exercise equipment, gymnasium and cardiac rehabilitation program,” says the article. Many corporate cafeterias now provide calorie and cholesterol counts on foods they serve. They also supply a menu that is low in fat and sodium and high in fiber for workers who have problems related to heart disease.

Goodbye, GMT

In 1884, Greenwich mean time and the Greenwich meridian became the standard for timekeeping and navigation worldwide. Actually, the Royal Greenwich Observatory began keeping time in 1675 so that sailors could have a standard by which to set their clocks before embarking on their voyages. Today it costs about $100,000 (U.S.) a year to keep the observatory’s six atomic clocks running and $30,000 (U.S.) apiece to replace each cesium vacuum tube. Britain has now decided that the money can best be spent elsewhere, and the tubes will not be replaced as they fail. However, the time standard will still be kept by Coordinated Universal Time, based in Paris. It comes from readings from 150 atomic clocks worldwide​—of which the Greenwich Observatory supplied but a part.

Japan’s Workers

“One of the basic reasons for Japan’s mounting industrial success lies in the workaholism of its people,” states Parade Magazine. “From childhood on, the Japanese . . . are taught their country’s historic ethic, senyu koraku​—‘struggle first, enjoy later.’” As a result, most Japanese prefer work to leisure, and many even refuse to take all their vacation time. This commitment to work and to employers is not without problems. “Almost half of the workers of Japan who take time off work do so because of stress,” says the Mainichi Daily News, “while as many as one in 20 . . . suffers from stress-related conditions including stomach ulcers and angina.” Some sort of stress was reported by 72.5 percent of the women and 62.9 percent of the men of the 60,000 workers surveyed. It was highest among those in administrative positions who put in over 30 hours of overtime a month.

Military Expenditures

What is the continuing arms buildup costing mankind? In World Military and Social Expenditures 1985, author Ruth Leger Sivard gives these statistics: Military outlays since World War II add up to $17 trillion (at 1982 prices and exchange rates)​—six times more than the annual income of the 3.6 billion people in the Third World. About $3 trillion to $4 trillion has been spent on building nuclear arsenals, which today are so powerful that every person now living could be killed 12 times over. Military expenditures are now $800 billion a year. The Soviet Union alone spends more in one year for military defense than is spent for education and health care in all the developing countries, while the budget for the U.S. Air Force exceeds the total budget for education of the 1.2 billion children in Latin America, Africa, and Asia (excluding Japan). It costs $590,000 a day just to operate one aircraft carrier. There now is one soldier for every 43 persons worldwide but only one physician per 1,030 persons.

Livestock Cocktail

What prevents diarrhea in piglets? Cordials​—or at least that is the conclusion of one Western Australian pig farmer. Since he has added this sweetened alcoholic beverage to his piglets’ drinking water when they are weaned, not one piglet has died from diarrhea. The disease usually sets in as soon as piglets are taken from their mother and begin to eat solid food. A research team reports that raspberry cordial seems to be the best for killing bacteria found in the pigs’ drinking water.

Piracy Worsening

“Piracy and armed robbery at sea have worsened” during 1985, reports The Guardian of London. The International Maritime Bureau identifies three particularly dangerous zones: West African coastal waters, the South China Sea, and the Caribbean. Some of the worst attacks occurred in the Gulf of Thailand, where refugees in small boats have been raped and murdered. In one savage attack in mid-December 1985, 50 Vietnamese boat people fleeing to Malaysia were killed in a rampage of robbery and rape. Off West Africa, organized gangs of up to 30 armed men have boarded anchored container ships at night, tying up the crew and looting the cargo. Yachts in the Caribbean have been hijacked by drug traffickers. The bureau is urging governments to crack down on the pirates and destroy their coastal bases.

British Child Abuse

The number of child-abuse cases in Britain has risen dramatically, according to the latest yearly report issued by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Between 1979 and 1984 the physical abuse of children increased by 70 percent in England and Wales. The sharpest increase was in the number of children who were sexually abused. The society estimates that 7,038 children under 15 years of age were physically abused in 1984 and that parents were responsible for the death of at least one child a week. “More children are murdered by their parents than by psychopaths,” reports The Guardian of London. Unemployment, marital troubles, and debts were cited as trigger factors leading to child abuse.

Aerial Search

Six Melbourne supermarkets have literally been up in the air over their missing trolley problem​—the estimated 35,000 shopping trolleys (carts) that are not returned to the stores each year. At a cost of $150 (Australian) to replace each trolley, supermarket losses are quite high. So they hired a helicopter to fly over the city and locate the missing trolleys. In just a four-hour search of the western suburbs, 110 trolleys were retrieved from such places as unused lots, backyards, and even creeks. The supermarket chains expect to recover at least 500 in the week-long aerial search that will cover most of the city.

Uncertain Surgery

About 11 million Americans suffer from myopia, or nearsightedness. Some 150,000 of them have resorted to radial keratotomy to correct it. The procedure, introduced in the U.S. in 1978, flattens the cornea by a series of tiny incisions around its perimeter. However, recent findings show the operation to have some serious drawbacks. For instance, it cannot be predicted just how much vision will improve. Also, as the cornea heals it changes shape, altering the vision. So, treated eyes may end up being overcorrected or undercorrected. And as it sometimes takes years for a cornea to heal, vision may fluctuate for months afterward and often ends up being different in each eye. Additionally, long-range problems can result from the weakened cornea. The operation “is definitely in its developing phase and needs to be refined so the outcome is more predictable and safer in the long run,” says ophthalmology professor George Waring.

Work Ethic

The average unemployment rate in Switzerland since 1960 has been 0.14 percent. It was officially listed as zero percent between 1968 and 1975. The highest it has been since World War II was 1.1 percent in 1984​—considered by many in Switzerland to be somewhat of a crisis. What accounts for such a high rate of employment? As reported in The New York Times, a study by three economists at the University of Geneva pointed out such factors as the country’s small size, smaller industries spread throughout the land, a trade-oriented economy, and a 1937 agreement that requires arbitration of disputes and that limits strikes. “There are many reasons however which just cannot be quantified,” says Alain Schoenenberger, one of the study’s authors. “My feeling is that here in Switzerland, work means something.”