Global Health - Assignment Example

There has been significant improvement in regard to health since the 50s; however, numerous challenges still exist that need to be solved by various stakeholders concerned with global health. At the moment over a billion people still lack proper health care globally. The diseases that can be prevented still result in millions of death annually across the globe. Examthatple of diseases which seem easier to control, but the fort is still lacking in that end include non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. Currently, diseases such as cardiovascular diseases still result in a significant mortality rate globally. In the year 2005 alone, over 17.5 million persons succumbed to cardiovascular diseases. This is a staggering 30% representation of deaths globally (World Health Organization, 2014). Deaths related to cardiovascular diseases are mainly common in developing countries and global health stakeholders need to improve healthcare systems in such countries. Malnutrition is another health issue that still needs to be eradicated globally and in particular, in the developing world. At present, the mortality rate among children aged 5 years and below stands at 7.5 million annually. This is a case whereby preventable measures may involve establishing efficient healthcare systems and funding to sustain such systems in the long term basis. On another note, infectious diseases are also causing headaches to global healthcare stakeholders such as the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2008 alone, over 6.7 million persons succumbed to infectious diseases. This prevalence rate is higher compared to persons who die from natural causes or other man-made catastrophes (Ney, 2012).

 HIV/AIDS is still a menace globally and new infections are reported almost on a daily basis. Much has been done to eradicate Tuberculosis; however, while the treatment is free, Tuberculosis is still a major cause of death in the developing world as a result of ignorance and lack of concerted effort from healthcare stakeholders in various countries, especially the developing world Malaria on the other hand, records high mortality rate among children aged below five years because a lack of primary prevention, and in particular, Sub-Saharan Africa (Lavery et al., 2013). The solutions to global health problems require thorough research by the major stakeholders. This allows the establishment of proper mechanisms or policies to deal with global health problems and avoid the mismanagement of funds channeled to solve the various global health problems. The research should also focus on the best alternatives for dealing with preventable diseases that still cause a high mortality rate across the globe. The best approach of spending global health funding should focus on making sure there are checks and balances regarding how the fund is spent in tackling various health problems across the globe. This would help to reduce the corruption that hinders the proper utilization of global health funds by various governments across the globe (Greenberg, Raymond & Leeder, 2011).

Global health priorities

Priority 1: Advocating for a healthy lifestyle by establishing educative programs and encouraging public engagement

Statement: Most of the diseases affecting people are mainly a result of lifestyle and choices. The availability of educative measures regarding a healthy lifestyle is essential in preventing various diseases such as cardiovascular diseases or hypertension (Dybul, Piot & Frenk, 2012).

Priority 2: Allocation of resources by considering the burden of disease

Statement: Certain regions are adversely affected by different diseases because of a lack of adequate funds to provide proper medical care. Funds should be channeled to such regions where there is difficulty in providing efficient medical care (Martin & Halachmi, 2012).

Priority 3: Provide adequate funds for antiretroviral treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Statement: More people still succumb to HIV/AIDS in the-Saharan Africa because of lacking funds to afford antiretroviral treatment. Adequate funding would enable the disadvantaged victims to access treatment and prolong their life (Martin & Halachmi, 2012).

Priority 4: Establishing checks and balance to manage funds channeled for healthcare

Statement: Creating checks and balance serve the role of ensuring funds set aside for healthcare programs are used efficiently, and not mismanaged through corrupt means (Martin & Halachmi, 2012).

Priority 5: Allocating resources for research on various diseases

Statement: Research on various infecting people across the globe assist in coming up with better treatment and preventive alternatives (Martin & Halachmi, 2012).

Priority 6: Improve treatment of Tuberculosis in the developing world

Statement: An improvement of Tuberculosis treatment in the third world would play a role in global eradication of the e since, it is treatable and the infected should be advised to seek early treatment (DAmbruoso, 2013).

Priority 7: Establishment of a universal healthcare

Statement: Various governments across the globe need to embrace universal healthcare where each person can access medical care regardless of their economic status (DAmbruoso, 2013).

$ 100 billion is a substantial amount for addressing global health issues and the first action to take prior to channeling the fund to tackle various health issues involves establishing checks and balances. This ensures that the fund will be spent appropriately in addressing the identified health issues. Since the mortality rate is high among children aged below 5 years, part of the fund should go towards immunizations of children against the identified diseases such as measles and polio. Specific actions in this sense will involve creating awareness of the diseases affecting children and initiating a campaign using part of the fund to carry out immunizations in areas mostly affected by the aforementioned diseases.