Globalization: Chronic Poverty and Health - Essay Example

Question One Globalization has been viewed by political commentators and political scientists as a benign force that leads to the ultimate convergence of world incomes, cultural richness, and convergence of institutions as democracy becomes a universal norm. In this view of globalization, it is expected that globalization would bring a lasting solution to problems of poverty, illiteracy, inequality or health problems that beset the developing world. In contrast to the mainstream view, globalization is currently seen as a malignant force that result into increased movement of people and resources thus results into child labor, loss of middle class jobs, capitalism, destruction of environment, and obliteration of indigenous cultures thereby leading to increased inequality (Milanovic, 667). In this respect, the poor continue to remain poor while the rich continue to accumulate wealth. Persistent inequality results into a vicious cycle of poverty in which the poor cannot take their children to school hence their children will not get better jobs due to increased competition in the job market and will continue with a generation of chronic poverty. Chronic poverty can be defined as a situation in which individuals are experiencing significant incapability deprivations for a longer period of time often more than five years (Hulme and Andrew, 403). Chronic poverty is closely linked to health standards. Research has shown that where there is high poverty index, the health standards are likely to be compromised. This is because individuals are not able to meet the basic nutritional, sanitation and hygienic standards. In this regard, they are left more susceptible to both communicable and non communicable diseases including nutritional deficiencies. Trends in globalization have therefore resulted into increased income inequality therefore leading to persistent chronic poverty and deteriorating health status among the poor. Forces of globalization play a key role in shaping political, economical and social policies that are adopted by governments. In the face of globalization, many poor countries do not gain from the increased interconnectedness because of increased competition hence even domestic policies in poor countries trend to favor developed countries. This inequality results into social injustice for the chronically poor population. Milanovic (669), views social justice as a matter of life and death since it affects the way people live, their consequent chance of illness and their risk of premature death. This is the reason why life expectancy and good health continue to rise in developed parts of the world while improvements of health in many developing countries do not take place. According to United Nations, Development Programme (2), A child born today in a developed country can expect to live for over 80 years but less than 45 years if they are born in developing countries. This is an indication that in within countries there are dramatic differences in health that are closely related with the degree of social justice and inequality. It is also important to note that it is not only differences in health as a result of inequality between countries but also inequality existing within countries. According to United Nations, Development Programme (3), the inequalities in health mentioned above rise because of the circumstances upon which different people grow, work, live and age and the systems that are put in place to deal with the illnesses. In this respect, chronic poverty means persistent poor health standards because individuals will not be able to compete because of the already prevailing social injustice. According to (), the conditions upon which people live and die are shaped by the political, economic and social forces. If political economical and social forces cannot resolve the problem of inequality and increased poverty, then there would be a vicious cycle of poverty. This results into adverse effects on the health status and the standards of living of the poor. Chronic poverty is therefore a prerequisite for poor health. According to Frenk (1), social and economic policies have impacts on whether an individual child would grow and develop to its full potential and live a flourishing life or whether the life of such a child will be blighted. This means the societal development can be gouged by looking at the quality of health of its population, how the disadvantaged are protected as a result of ill-health and how fairly health is distributed across the social spectrum. According to (), the poor health of the poor, social gradient of health within nations and inequalities in health between countries is as a result of unequal distribution of power, goods, income, services and capital both nationally and globally. Chronic poverty is also linked to poor health because there is limited access to health care, education and schools and work conditions. Closing the health gap in a generation is therefore a noble task that will require active participation globally and nationally in order to deal with poor social policies, unfair economic arrangements and bad politics. Disparities in the standard of health and the rising health inequity between the poor and the rich can be solved when governments change and react to the forces of globalization objectively. To put this into perspective, trends in globalization and increasing inequity affects many nations in terms of health and living standards. An example is the Sub-Saharan Africa that is worse than the rest of the regions with respect to reductions in child mortality. Reductions in fewer than five mortality and underweight children were far much lower than the global average. In this region too, maternal mortality only fell on average by just 1-6 percent significantly below the annual target rate of 5.4% (Cleason and Folger, 26). Comparing malnutrition target, many nations are making progress; only 15% of people within Sub Saharan Africa live in a country that is on-track to reach the target (Cleason and Folger, 27). It is therefore important to note that forces of globalization ensures that progress within countries does not necessarily mean progress for everyone, hence the better of are making progress towards the goals while the poor are being left behind. Question Two Distribution of power, goods and services and income are very important social determinants of health and influence health and health equity. Access to sanitation is a very important human development goal despite the fact that more than 2.6 million people across the world do not have adequate sanitation facilities (Rheinländer et al, 605). Even though there have been improvements, sanitation still lag behind water supply in many countries. Different aspects of Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition are related to the social determinants of health. Health and health equity may not be the aim of all social policies but are fundamental results. Economic growth for instance is important in poor countries since it provides the opportunity to invest thus increases capability of investing in improvements of lives of the people. Resources are important in provision of Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition for the population thus without resources, it would be very difficult to provide sanitation, water and other social amenities to the people. It is therefore important to note that this would impact on the health of the people. Traditionally, many societies have looked at health sector to handle its concerns about health and disease. Misdistributions of healthcare and failure to deliver care to the people who most need are an important social determinant of health. Research has also shown that the high burden of illness that is responsible for deaths and the premature loss of life, high infant mortality and low life expectancy are due to the nature of the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age. It is therefore important to note that equal provision of Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition are part of efforts of ensuring that there is reduced deaths and premature loss of life among the younger generation. According to Rheinländer (609) poor living conditions that are characterized by ineffective Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition is as a result of poor social policies and programs, bad politics and unfair economic arrangements. Nutrition for example plays a vital role in the growth and development of a young child. Provision of adequate care in terms of educating mothers and care givers of young babies are important. This is only possible when there are effective policies that recognize the importance of nutrition. This calls for provision of funds and implementing programs to educate mothers on importance of nutrition. According to the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (1), actions on social determinants of health must involve the whole government, local communities, civil society, global flora, international agencies and business community with each playing an important role. The government has a lot to do with very little resources especially in the poor countries thus many aspects that involve delivery and maintenance of effective Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition calls for the support of all stakeholders including all the above mentioned groups. For instance, The Programme d’Assainissement de Diokoul et Quartiers Environnants (PADE) Scheme to address sanitation problems in Rufisque, Senegal addressed serious sanitation challenges in Senegal that had existed for many years since the government lacked adequate resources for developing a sanitation system. According to Kemeny (2), this program was successful and 450 households in the Municipality of Rufisque benefited from it, of which nearly 200 are now connected to waste and water treatment plants through a narrow drainage system. This example shows how resources and government polices play a vital role in provision of safe environments that prevent adverse health effects of poor waste management. Policies and programs that are aimed at addressing health and inequity in health services must therefore embrace all the key sectors of the society not just the health sector. Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition are part of the sectors to be addressed by such government policies mainly to promote health standards in the long run. Effective Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition also ensures reduction in healthcare costs in the long run due to eradication of health problems arising from outbreak of diseases due to poor quality water and sanitation, poor hygiene leading to contamination of food and water sources and malnutrition that results into lifestyle diseases (Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 1). The government must also invest in healthcare and public health services to ensure there is a healthy productive population that can generate revenue that is used in other developments. The minister of health and the supporting ministry are critical to global change. This is because they have the capacity to champion social determinants of health approach at the highest levels of the society, can show effectiveness through good practice and can support other ministries in creating policies that promote health equity. Deep inequities in the distribution of economic, social and political power arrangements are the key relevance to health equity. Sufficient provision of quality Water, effective, sanitation and hygiene and nutrition depends to a large extent on the social determinants of health. This is because provision of the above services to the society calls for government policies, financial resources, collaboration and cooperating with other agencies. Works Cited Cleason, M, and P Folger. Health Issues Of The UN Millennium Development Goals. Elsevier, Inc, 2008. Frenk, Julio. "The Global Health System: Strengthening National Health Systems As The Next Step For Global Progress." Plos Medicine 7.1 (2010): 1-3. Hulme, David, and Andrew Shepherd. "Conceptualizing Chronic Poverty." World Development 31.Chronic Poverty and Development Policy (2003): 403-423. Kemeny, Thomas. "Sanitation And Economic Development: Making A Case For The MDG Orphan." (2007): OAIster. Web. 6 May 2015 Milanovic, Branko. "The Two Faces Of Globalization: Against Globalization As We Know It." World Development 31.(2003): 667-683. Rheinländer, Thilde, et al. "Hygiene and Sanitation Promotion Strategies Among Ethnic Minority Communities In Northern Vietnam: A Stakeholder Analysis." Health Policy & Planning 27.7 (2012): 600-612. United Nations, Development Programme. Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality In Developing Countries. New York, NY, 2013 WHO. Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. 2008 Read More