The world has made significant progress in reducing the number of child deaths. In 2000, an estimated 9.6 million children aged less than 5 years dies worldwide. The biggest killers were pneumonia, prematurity, diarrhoeal disease, malaria, measles and HIV/AIDS. By 2010, annual child deaths had been reduced to 7.6 million.

From stories of the avian flu to advances to digital medical records, the news is filled with stories about the impact of globalization in healthcare. In this Globalization101.org Issue in Depth, we will take a close look at two topics:
How globalization is promoting both the rapid spread and the effective treatment of highly contagious diseases.
The growing debate over the use and future of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The pharmaceutical industry is responsible for the development, production and marketing of medications. Thus, its immense importance as a global sector is inarguable. Total pharmaceutical revenues worldwide had reached over one trillion U.S. dollars in 2014, with North America responsible for the largest portion of these revenues, due to the leading role of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. However, as in many other industries, the Chinese pharmaceutical sector has shown the highest growth rates over previous years.

The tremendous growth of international trade over the past several decades has been both a primary cause and effect of globalization. The volume of world trade increased twenty-seven fold from $296 billion in 1950 to $8 trillion in 2005 (WTO, 2007). In recent years world trade has declined in volume and was down in 2012 and is expected to remain sluggish through 2013. This is a result of the struggling economies of Europe and doubt over the Euro (WTO, 2013). The continued decline of world trade was evidenced by a decrease of 0.3 percent in May, with forecasters cutting their prediction for global growth (Hannon, 2013).

Technological development can also provide a distinctive trade advantage. The relatively advanced countries—particularly the United States, Japan, and those of western Europe—have been the principal exporters of high-technology products such as computers and precision machinery.

"Globalisation and technology may have changed the relation between growth, labour markets and inflation in a way that challenges the existing monetary policy frameworks," notes Barclays head of economic research, Christian Keller.

In nearly every corner of the world, from Mumbai to Madrid, one cannot enter a café or walk down the street without seeing someone talking, texting, or surfing the Internet on their cell phones, laptops or tablet PC. Information Technology (IT) has become ubiquitous and is changing every aspect of how people live their lives.
Recent advances in our ability to communicate and process information in digital form— a series of developments sometimes described as an “IT revolution”—are reshaping the economies and societies of many countries around the world.