Inner City Health Care - Term Paper Example

Introduction: The continuous plying of rural population towards the towns and cities in search of more comfortable jobs and better wages is the primereason of urbanization in some parts of the world including Australia, Africa and Asia. Poor or stagnant agricultural growth and higher population growth increases the migration rate (Dennis, 2007). The migration of population from rural areas to towns and cities is continuously growing, however some of the biologists in Australia also see the nutrients gradients as an additional factor (Jason et al, 2001). The authors have analyzed the specific pattern of migration and geology of the particular region of Australia. United nation has also studied the migration trend of people and has made a forecast about the world population by the year 2030. According to the forecast report the world population is expected to increase by 2 billion by the year 2030 and out of total increase of 2 billion people 1.9 billion people are expected to live in cities (United Nations: World Urbanization Prospectus, 2000). The shift in population from rural to cities and towns will also be responsible for certain health affects and it will be interesting to know the impact of urbanization on health issues. Actually there are various factors that might influence the health outcomes and an old study have indicated the social and economical factors are responsible for poor health outcomes (Faris & Dunham, 1939). In the present study a few positive and negative health outcomes from urbanization have been summarized. The finding of different researchers varies for a specific health outcome and if the impact is positive for a city it is not necessarily be the same for another city. A few key factors have also been identified and debated that in my opinion are essential requirement for healthy urbanization. Health in cities during 19th and 20th century: Some researchers assumed that some of the factors such as population density, pollution, and crime in cities deteriorated health during the early 19th century (Power et al, 2001) and at the same time a lack in mental fitness level especially in rural non-metropolitan areas in Australia is debated (Fraser et al, 2002). Many Asian scholars and researchers considered that the urban population is linked to the poor health especially in early 19th century (Lee, 2001). All these medical and health professionals, researchers and scholars started investigating the urban living conditions and the relationship between the health and the surrounding conditions. With the improvement of living conditions in some of the developing cities especially the sanitary conditions, the researchers found a tremendous improvement in health conditions in many European and North American cities (Hamblin, 1998). The other major conditions responsible for improving health conditions include the improvement in drinking water and immunization of population for infections. Health conditions in cities started improving by the end of nineteenth century or early 20th century and people in cities today have better health conditions than the non-urban areas. Some of the cities in specific regions of the world growing at faster pace and therefore it is really a challenge for the government officials to provide better sanitation, drinking water and housing to the new migrants so that health in general do not deteriorate here. Main Challenges for civic authorities: In my opinion the main challenge for civic authorities is to control the infectious diseases that generally starts within the cities and spread out quickly from one city to another. In the recent past we have seen many infectious diseases spreading at different intervals in different part of the world. Such infectious diseases including bird flue, SARS, HIV and malaria are more common and have posed threats to the large number of people in our society. Although bird flue and SARS were controlled quickly, however the dangers in near future cannot be ruled out. HIV is a killer health problem. A complete solution for controlling the killer virus is yet to be explored. I think that poor and uneducated people are more likely to get infected with HIV virus, however to educate people and provide the necessary infrastructure such as condoms to all sex workers might be a good step from civic authorities. A report estimated that by the end of 20th century, the cities in all major countries have higher rate of HIV infection, mental illness, mortality, asthma and other conditions (American college of physicians, 1997). People in cities are more likely to have mental illness including depression and anxiety due to various economical and social reasons. The education, employment and social needs have to be met and it is really not an easy job for government bodies to provide education and employment to the large number of people living in cities. The problem of sanitation, pure drinking water and housing adds the government problem in cities and therefore these are the tough challenges associated with the urbanization. First Key Factors- Living condition: As there are limited research carried out by health professionals in this area, on the basis of the findings of some scholars the following three debatable key factors are being discussed. Actually we have seen in our literature search that the health condition in the cities were improved as soon as the living condition in cities were improved especially sanitation. Therefore my first key factor for the debate is environment living conditions of cities. It is really necessary to provide a good environment and to our citizens in most of the modern cities. The major problem in now a day is the drinking water problem and I am not sure how many people in cities are provided with the potable drinking water. In some of the cities the water do not meet the required drinking water standard. This is really risky and can cause many water born diseases and thus is a threat for many diseases. The sanitation and housing is another major area where a large number of cities need to expedite the investments so that the future generation can be accommodated in the cities. There is shortage of houses in all the major cities and I think that it is also one of the reasons for poor health in cities. People do not get the sufficient houses and many people live in small huts and even open areas during nights. These conditions are really painful and unhealthy and government bodies need to have willpower to provide accommodation to these needy people in cities. The pollution levels in cities are continuously growing due to emission from factories and vehicles. The strict norms for pollution in California make it the least polluted state in the world. The other countries and cities should come forward to make strict pollution norms so that the people living in the country do not suffer. Second Key Factor- Social and economic atmosphere: Humans are said to be social animals and there are a number of health problems associated with this social feature. I think that if we are unable to provide them the social security and proper social environment, we are offering them a number of mental diseases. People living alone are more prone to mental illness, depression and anxiety. The problems might be more complicated if employment opportunities are denied to such peoples. I would like to add that some of the social schemes such as education to small children, health insurance to children, monetary benefits to school going children of poor families, access to libraries and community centers should be free of cost. The economic reason is undoubtedly the highest one and I am sure that no person will feel secure without earning enough money for his living. The right amount of job opportunities should have been provided in the city so that the health problems can be reduced. Third Key Factor- Free Access to Health Services: The access to health services is too costly at present in most of the cities. A poor person do not get the free access, although many non- government organizations are working in this area but I think cost is still a major hurdle. Real needy and poor people having a disease if do not get the treatment at right time might spread it especially if it is a contagious disease. I would like to add that the government bodies and non-government organizations should focus more on the health of the poor pregnant women, as many first time pregnant women do not survive during delivery. Health access and education to the illiterate or low literate is necessary to improve the health conditions in cities. Sometime we see often spread of contagious diseases such as SARS and TB etc. There should be provision to deal in such situations. The world is passing through a killer disease AIDS and the number of people having HIV infection is continuously growing. Billions of dollars per annum are spent on curtailing the AIDS disease even then it is continuously grasping thousands of people every year. We need to think on our strategy once again so that the maximum people get benefit of medical facilities offered to them. Questions for debate: On the basis of three key factors people are invited to put their views on the following three questions. Question 1: If we provide better opportunities to farmers. Will it reduce the pace of urbanization Question 2: Offering more benefits such, as free subsidies to farmers will help in controlling urbanization Question 3: Should we provide incentives to professionals such as doctors if they are based on rural areas Will this help in controlling urbanization Conclusion: Although the urbanization is inevitable and it will continuously grow, the cities will have some specific positive health outcomes such as access to health services and negative health outcomes such as increased pollution, non-availability drinking water, housing and sanitation. There are various methods so that the cities can be made user friendly and health friendly. Some of these include improved living conditions, improved socio-economic conditions and free access to health services. A debate has been open on these three key factors. References: Jason, A. Sonneman. Christopher, J. Walsh.Peter, F. Breen., Andrew, K. Sharpe (2001) Effects of urbanization on streams of the Melbourne region, Victoria, Australia.II Benthic Diatom communities. Freshwater Biology. Vol 46 (4). P. 553-565. United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2000) World urbanization prospectus, the 1999 revision: data tables and highlights. New York: United Nations. Faris, R. E. L. and Dunham, H. W. (1939) Mental disorders in urban areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Power, H., Sheard, S. and Power, H.J. (eds.) (2001) Body and city: histories of urban public health. London: Ash gate Fraser Cialtin, Judd, Fiona, Jackson, Henry, Murray, Greg, Humphreys, John, Hodgins, Gene, (2002). Does one size really fit allWhy the mental health of rural Australian requires further research. Australian Journal of Rural Health. Vol 10 (6).p. 288-295 Lee, L. (2004) The current state of public health in China. Annu Rev Public Health. 25, p. 327-9. Hamblin, C. (1998) Public health and social justice in the age of Chadwick: Britain 1800-54. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dennis, A. Rondinelli (1985). Humanities Social science and Law, Population research and policy review, 4(2). p. 173-196 American college of physicians (1997) Inner city health care. Ann Intern Med. 127, p. 485-90 Read More