| Chapter 1: | The Role Of Public Relations In Global Issues |
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less than they had been in 1970 (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], 1999). Concomitantly, the number of hungry and malnourished people in the world increased during the 1990s, and the number of HIV/AIDS infections doubled. Toward the end of the 20th century, more than 880 million people lacked access to healthcare, 2.6 billion lacked access to basic sanitation, and 5 million died each year from diarrhea caused by contaminated water supplies (UNDP, 1999).
These issues commanded worldwide attention in late 1999 when protesters characterized globalization as a new Western tool of colonization and charged Western financial interests—such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO)—with hijacking the globalization agenda and turning it into one dedicated to ensuring the success of Western economic liberalization policies and free markets.
