The Issue of Malaria Epidemic - Research Paper Example

Contemporary Issues in Global Health – G H 402/502 Contemporary Global Health Issues Malaria Malaria has been a global epidemic and has raised concerns over the years. The rise in the global deaths with malaria related diseases has led to the formation of several programs that are aimed at reducing the number of deaths especially to the infants and children of below five years (McCracken and Phillips 43). These age groups are the most vulnerable to Malaria epidemics. This has made malaria to be one of the major global causes of mortality and morbidity and under global statistics; it is approximately that about 300 million clinical cases of malaria and this gives rise to over or about one million deaths each year globally. Most malarial deaths occur to the pregnant women and young children because of the inability to access proper medical care and poor sanitation services that lead to the breeding of mosquitos. Global malaria prevalence is also due to poor and limited information on malaria and the possible preventive methods. Most of the affected groups have a wrong perception on Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) and therefore they don’t control the vector causing malaria (McCracken and Phillips 75) Malaria has become a global concern because it is considered to be both a disease of poverty and a major cause of poverty mostly in the developing countries. This is because the developing countries do not have the sufficient and proper medication for the disease. It has therefore been considered to be a major constraint to economic development in the developing countries as it has both high social and economic costs that cause a wider gap in the GDP of the developed and developing countries (McCracken and Phillips 78). This has therefore led to a big global dilemma for the affected communities. 2. Environmental Sanitation Environmental sanitation is another major global concern due to the rising environmental degradation. For a proper and safe environment, there should be minimal sharing of the sanitation services such as the toilets as recommended by the World Health Organization (McCracken and Phillips 76). This improves the security and safety of the services and enables accessibility and proper maintenance. If sanitation facilities are highly shared, it becomes a challenge to maintain their cleanliness, and this may turn them to be breeding places for disease-transmitting parasites and pathogens. The global concern for environmental sanitation is causing the dilemma because of the rising number of people that have limited access to improved sanitation making them prone to diseases (McCracken and Phillips 84). Due to the rising number of family sizes in the different parts of the world, there has been increased environmental degradation that eventually leads to poor climate changes and reduced soil fertility and proper productivity of the arable land. Poor disposal of waste also possesses poor environmental sanitation as most wastes don’t decompose, becoming a health hazard to the neighboring communities. A report by the World Commission on Environmental and Development revealed that an increase in the environmental degradation will cause serious human suffering and global damage due to bad climate (McCracken and Phillips 91). The report proposes that that there should be a change in the lifestyle patterns and urgent change in the global economic pattern and growth, to avoid economic and political unrest. The current situation causes dilemma because there is fear that future generations may lack proper and healthy environment that is free from diseases and proper fertility (McCracken and Phillips 34). Impact of the Global Health Courses These two courses have greatly impacted positivity in my perceptions of global health. They give me the insight of fighting to improve the safety of our environment (Naomi 19). Since malaria has been considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous epidemics after HIV/AIDS, the course has changed my perception of the importance of maintaining the sanity of the environment we live by avoiding the exposure to factors that cause malaria and related ailments. The course on the environmental sanitation has improved my understanding of the causes of global warming and the dangers it exposes to human and the environment. It gives me the insight to create awareness to the marginalized groups in the crisis looming due to continued environmental degradation and careless sanitation. It also changes my perception of the need to have limited sharing of the sanitation facilities, as this improves the accessibility, cleanliness and reduces the chances of contacting various diseases (Naomi 23). The courses have also shaped my future in being one of the professional in the global health programs that helps improves the environment and identifies the various challenges that faces the marginalized groups that cannot easily access proper medical care and also lack the awareness of proper sanitation services and facilities (Naomi 53). One of my major career goals is to ensure proper access to sanitation services to the communities, and the courses have enabled me identify the gap that exist in the global health and the progress in improving global health. This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein This book greatly explores the urgency in improving the climate by disregarding the myths surrounding some views on the causes of climate changes. “The current climate changes are a civilizational wake-up. She continues to note that confronting the current changes is no longer about changing the bulbs but changing the world before; the world changes so drastically that no one is safe “ (Naomi 139). Naomi shows that continued misuse of the environment and careless living will lead to the destruction of the world through such calamities as draught, floods, fire, and storms. The book also illustrates how the climate is interconnected with capitalism. She argues that we should relate our climate and nature to the creation of fair, safe societies that are very free from contamination and unnecessary harm that may lead to unnecessary premature deaths. The book presents that as much as we work hard to improve our economy globally, we should not destroy the environment thereby making it inhabitable even for future generations (Naomi 114). Naomi argues that the governments should not just collect citizen’s taxes and do not use them to improve their health care and the improving the economic systems without putting into consideration the environmental and climate effects (129). She proposes that the use of greenhouse emissions should be highly encouraged so that the environment is improved. This will bring proper equality between the democracies and improving economies because the environment will be safe and healthy for mutual coexistence (Naomi 132). The book illustrates the failure of the market in correcting the climate damage. This is because the market is much concerned with the capital, and less attention is given to the side effects of their actions. Naomi proposes that the current generation should maintain the environment so as to make safer for the coming future generation (146). Impact on the Understanding of Global Health The issues addressed by the author in the book directly address the global health such as the effects of global warming and carelessly disposing of wastes and poor emissions of gasses into the atmosphere. The book shows that emissions of wastes into the air raise the temperature to some high level that eventually raises the sea level. This is hazardous to human health and the ecosystem in general (Naomi 165). This kind of changes in the environment causes global health problems and exposes human to different diseases if proper care is not taken in time. Too much capitalism also has side effects to global health. This is because as most democracies aim at improving their economies through expansive development and trade, little attention is placed on the effects such as environmental degradation (Naomi 174). Naomi Klein therefore addresses the issues being argued on by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, which aims at creating awareness on the importance of proper global health and providing services such as medical care and sanitation so as to improve the human health and maintain our environment. Proper health care for the individuals enhances the sustainability of the environment and improves the productivity. In Naomi, “99% of science is unequivocal; the world was warming, and we needed to act collectively to reduce emissions” (215). Therefore, Naomi proposes that it is the responsible of every individual in the societies to maintain a proper environment and fight for a better environment (192). The role of the global health professional should be to be in the forefront in the fight against environmental damage, both by emissions and careless living (Naomi 221). The health professional should create awareness to the public mostly the marginalized and less knowledgeable individuals the importance and necessity of maintaining proper and clean environment. It is also the duty of the health worker to encourage the factories and markets to be treating their wastes before exposing them to the environment and water bodies. As a global citizen is the duty of every individual to maintain healthy living and avoid careless disposing of wastes and improper degradation. Individuals should also ensure the sanity of their environments where they live. Recommendations One of the major recommendations to the healthy environment and healthy living is the recycling of the used materials as much as possible so as to avoid wastage of resources and careless disposing of wastes that may act as brooding places for harmful insects that causes disease. The government should also use the taxes in the improving of the health care and maintaining the environment and avoid excessive capitalism Works Cited McCracken, Kevin and Phillips, David R. “Global Health: An Introduction to Current and Future Trends” (Routledge, 2012): 1-352. Naomi Klein, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. The Climate.” (Washington DC: Simon and Schuster, 2014): 1-449. Read More