Fighting Diseases is a work in three parts, examining political/ economic, medical/healthcare, and psychological/social challenges currently faced by our ‘Global Village.’ It presents the author’s research findings, as well as interviews and articles from insiders and experts in various fields. Part one examines African, Western, and Eastern cultures, focusing on the political and economic problems in Africa. Can Europe, the U.S., and China aid and contribute to the development of the ‘Dark Continent?’ By analyzing these global powers’ philosophies, mindsets, and historical origins, the author attempts to find future common interests, such as Africa’s abundant natural resources. Part two focuses on the AIDS epidemic, which is currently wreaking havoc in Africa. The continent is split over the AIDS issue, specifically over the cause and treatment of this tragic disease. Traditional and alternative medicine stand in diametrical opposition to mainstream medicine; this conflict may well end in disaster for the Africans, unless some kind of common ground is found. Part three, Mastering Ignorance, discusses the scientific and psychological constructs and ramifications relating to Africa’s current, sordid state. It is a synthesis of this expansive work, and it offers guidelines on discerning truth from falsehood, both on a microcosmic, rational level, and on a macrocosmic, mystical level.   

About the Author

Mark O'Doherty was born in 1976 in Vienna. His mother was a therapist from Austria, and his father and engineer from Ireland. The family immigrated to South Africa in 1983, during the climax of the Apartheid Era, and lived in the rural area of the Transvaal, while actively participating in the South African New Age Movement. Mark matriculated at the German School in Johannesburg in 1994, shortly after the first Democratic elections in South Africa, where he also participated, voting for the Zulus. Enrolling at the University of Vienna, he studied Logistics and Psychology, and got involved in social and political activities, and began to write features and poetry for the German literary magazines 'Vogelfrei' and 'Das Boot'. The following years he spent tramping in Germany, the U.S.A and Australia, where he lived as a destitute for some time. He then moved to the Irish West coast and led the life of a hermit, and subsequently returned to Vienna and South Africa. Most of his research for 'Fighting Diseases' was conducted in South Africa, where he also publishes the 'Crystal Conclave' a local magazine, which focuses on the challenges which South Africa is currently facing.