Global Health - Global Disease in Malawi and Kenya - Report Example

Running head: Health Sciences and Medicine Global Health - Global Disease in Malawi and Kenya Insert Insert Grade Insert May 2012 Malawi and Kenya falls under the category of developing nations and are classified as low-income economies1. Kenya disease burdens are especially high in informal settlements2 while Malawi disease burdens are occasioned by high prevalence of smoking due to tobacco farming in the country3. Disease burden have detrimental effects on the quality of lives of humans due to disability and death. Diseases are expensive to treat and lead to low productivity. They cause numerous psychological and emotional problems and impacts negatively on the economy of any country because of the loss of productivity and the immense costs of interventions and treatment. There is a great disparity between disease burdens in high income and low-income economies and urgent measures are required to reduce the disparity. Individuals from low-income backgrounds experience higher disease burdens due to higher chances of infections from polluted environments and lack of adequate facilities. Words 147 Developing nations have increased burden of disease from both communicable and non-communicable diseases, which are further complicated by high rates of HIV/ AIDS4. Changing lifestyles have made non-communicable diseases (i.e. heart diseases, stroke, cancer respiratory diseases, and diabetes) a major concern in low-income economies, which account for a majority of deaths in these economies. The disease burden in these low-income economies is heightened by rapid urbanization, changing lifestyles, poverty, poor nutrition, and social cultural factors5. A number of aspects lead to widened disease burdens in these economies and they include unsafe sexual practices, unhygienic and unsanitary environments, alcohol drinking, tobacco smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and poor nutrition. The consumption of unsafe water, poor sanitation, and unhygienic practices predispose both adults and children to communicable disease, which when handled poorly become the leading cause of mortality in children. Men predominantly smoke tobacco, consume alcohol, and hence have increased incidences associated with non-communicable diseases. Women have increased chances of being over weight increasing the chances of high cholesterol levels. These trends are consistent with the social and cultural perceptions that favor smoking and alcohol consumption in males and being overweight in women. Disease burdens due to obesity are more prevalent in urban areas due to changing eating lifestyles and physical inactivity. Unsafe sexual behavior leads to a high prevalence of HIV/ AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa6. The burden of disease in these regions impact negatively on the economy and reduces the quality of lives because of direct costs of disease treatment and medical care. The people have to cater for inpatient and outpatient care, ambulance costs, community health services and the medication they use on management and treatment of diseases. In low economies, there are no government welfare programs or insurance programs to assist citizens when sick. The people and their relatives bear the direct costs of any diseases and this is a great burden as the majority of this people come from very poor backgrounds. Another disease burden in these economies is the loss of productivity caused by death and disability due to diseases. Sickness results in the reduced productivity in any job and this increases dependability on other members of the family. Low-income economies are driven mostly by agriculture and the loss of productive men and women increases food insecurities, as there is no work force. Increased cases of HIV/ AIDS leaves many orphans who are left exposed to food shortages, sexual abuse and mostly drop out of school due to unavailability of school fees. Due to the economic hardships and lack of resources, the presence of any illness in a family has serious financial issues as an entire family and community contribute to the management and treatment of these diseases leaving them economically challenged. These families are sometimes forced to part with the family assets to offset the high hospital bills. This exposes the weaker members of that society especially women and children to malnutrition due to lack of balanced diets. The forfeiture of basic human needs due to disease leads to serious psychological and developmental problems for teenagers and children leading to stunted development. These countries experience reduced economic development due to the increased mortality, loss of productivity and increased expenditure on health care programs. Words 537 Disease burdens due to infant and child mortality caused by under nutrition, unsafe water and poor sanitation and hygiene can be alleviated in low and middle-income economies through economic development. Developing countries need to strategize and increase economic development, which will increase the levels of education and technologies to the general population. The global health community needs to advocate for subsidized technologies that facilitate poor people getting access to clean and safe drinking water. Governments from low-income economies provide effective infrastructure to facilitate efficient and effective waste management. They should mitigate factors that increase food insecurity by developing infrastructure, which would enable availability and accessibility of quality food at all times. The health community in these regions should develop efficient monitoring and action plans that should efficiently detect and intervene when health issues arise in the community. Provision of accessible affordable treatment can reduce disease burdens, significantly. Adequate policy measures should be taken to sensitize the public about the dangers of tobacco smoking and alcohol abuse. The majority of citizens in the low-income economies do not know the risks of drug abuse and with sensitization they can change their lifestyles. Smoking behavior is largely developed at adolescent and young people do not consider the possibility of nicotine addiction. With adequate strategies and policies, smoking can be reduced in the young people. To reduce the risk factors arising from alcohol and tobacco smoking the government should institute heavy taxes on these commodities to reduce their consumption7. Policy makers should institute strict and deterrent legislation to reduce the legal, illegal, and home consumption of alcohol, which is prevalent in most low-income countries as it is harmful to the general population in the long run. Alcohol and tobacco advertisements should be banned and their packaging should include graphic and images clearly giving health warnings. These governments should also provide rehabilitation and treatment programs for persons affected by chronic illness arising from tobacco and alcohol abuse and they should aim at changing the bad lifestyles and mitigating the ill effects of diseases. The government should develop working social welfare programs for families that lose their sole breadwinners to death, diseases and disability especially orphans to enable them access education and quality food. Without help these families and especially children would drop out of school in search of alternative incomes. Without any support they are prone to sexual exploitation and involvement in drug and substance abuse, which would lead to increase in the disease burdens of the society. Access to education is good for the economy through human capital creation and it is efficient avenue for promoting healthy lifestyles. Education reduces the disease burdens through reduction in individual health risks. There should be adequate dissemination of information to the public about the health consequences of risky sexual behaviors especially to adolescents and children. The government and the international health community should advocate safe sex, abstinence, and faithfulness to reduce the high pervasiveness of the scourge in the low-income economies. Provision of adequate testing and treatment options should be a priority to stem the epidemic that risks claiming the entire community. Provision of adequate treatment, counseling, and support systems for the affected individuals would reduce the diseases burdens and these people would adopt healthier lifestyles and be more productive. The government should develop the health care industry through adequate construction of facilities all over the country, which would make treatment accessible to all people. It should institute policies and strategies to adequately train and employ enough health professionals to handle the general population at all times and avoid overworking the available health personnel. The health care departments should be charged with the responsibility of reducing the prevalence of non-communicable diseases through control of risk factors in a broad manner. They should direct their focus in the family and community levels as the major causes of non-communicable diseases are found in the social and cultural lifestyles in these societies. The governments’ health departments should increase their capacity to detect and treat both communicable and non-communicable diseases by investing in the latest technologies and systems. Causal risks communicable diseases should be understood and monitored through adequate surveillance and strict adherence to laid down legislations. These governments should ensure their citizens live in clean environments by reducing environmental pollutions through acceptable methods. Strict monitoring of immergence of communicable diseases should be done continually to allow adequate intervention measures and reduce the likelihood of epidemics. By liaising with the global health community, countries in the low-income communities can be able to learn, adopt, implement, and get sufficient support to reduce the disease burdens of its people. Reducing the mortality and disability of its people would benefit the economies and improve the living standards of its citizens. Words 787 References 1. African Population and Health Research Center (2002) Population and Health Dynamics in Nairobi Informal Settlements. Nairobi: APHRC 2. Lopez AD et al. (2006) Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors. New York: Oxford University Press. 3. Miranda JJ et al. (2008) Non-Communicable Diseases in Low- And Middle-Income Countries: Context, Determinants and Health Policy. Trop. Med. Int. Health 13: 1225–1234. 4. Msyamboza KP et al. (2011) The Burden of Selected Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and Their Risk Factors in Malawi: Nationwide STEPS Survey. PLoS ONE 6(5): e20316. 5. The World Bank Group (2004) Classification of Economies by Income and Region 2002 http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/global/classification.html (accessed 30/02/2012) 6. World Health Organization (2009) 2008–2013 Action Plan for the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of No communicable Diseases: Prevent and Control Cardiovascular Diseases, Cancers, Chronic Respiratory Diseases and Diabetes. Geneva: World Health Organization. Read More