The Chain of Causation and Discipline Analysis - Essay Example

Case analysis: Chain of causation and discipline analysis Introduction The paper presents a case analysis of a child who suffered from malaria and later some un-diagnosed disease which led to his death. This paper would first discuss the chain or causation of this case, focusing on the various causes that resulted in the death of the child. Thereafter, this paper would present an ideal healthcare scenario in the future. Due to the rapid growth in healthcare technology and other such areas, the future of the healthcare sector looks bright and people would not suffer due to wrong diagnosis and treatment. However, in order to achieve such an ideal scenario, it is important to undertake the changes now. These changes would particularly focus on the following area: Improving the economic conditions, transforming the sociological well-being, enhancing political cooperation, augmenting the environmental efficiency and developing healthcare technologies. In order to understand these changes, it is important to have the understanding about economics, sociology, political science, sociology and healthcare. However, one should also remember that the ideal situation can only be created if these subjects are combined together or work together in a cohesive manner. Discuss the chain of causation of this case While analysing a case from the point of view of a public health model, an injury or a casualty is being considered to occur due to a chain of causation that includes an agent, a host and an environment. This tripartite component of the agent, host and environment is being used repeatedly in the modern age of scientific development to find out the underlying cause behind a disease or casualty (Beaglehole and Bonita 1997). This chain of causation starts with the identification of the reservoir or the agent that is the home of the disease, where it lives and grows. Different disease has different reservoirs (Scutchfield and Keck 1997). For instance, in case of plague, the reservoir would be a carrying animal such as squirrels, rats and even humans. With regards to malaria, the reservoir is an infected human who carries this parasitic agent (Chin 1999). After the reservoir, comes the agent. The agent needs to have a point of exit for the disease to spread from the reservoir. For instance, in case of malaria, anopheles mosquitoes are the point of exit for the disease. The malaria parasite spends some of its life cycle inside the body of the mosquito. Therefore, the mosquito acts as a means to transmit the disease to other human beings (Rabinowitz and Poljak 2003). In this chain of causation, the next link is known as the agent. Agent means the link that causes the disease in other humans. For instance, in case of malaria, the link or agent is the mosquito which is breading the parasite inside its body. Thus, the anopheles mosquito is not just a point of exit for the disease, but also acts as the point of entry for the disease to infect a human host (Tamerius et al 2007). Environment is another important factor in the chain of causation and can influence any of the components of the chain. The surrounding and environment that a person is living in greatly influences the breading of a disease (Tamerius et al 2007). For instance, during 1934-35, a malaria epidemic spread in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) which caused deaths of many thousand people and infected millions. Scientists therefore, tried to find out the cause behind this epidemic. Anopheles mosquitoes, it was found, only survived in environment that had dry environment with little vegetation and rainfall. This allowed water to remain stagnant at places, which are considered to be good breeding places for the mosquitoes. However, the southwestern area where the epidemic hit always witnessed heavy monsoons and therefore, did not have the problem of malaria. Thus, with deeper study it was found that the area reeled under sever drought during 1934, which altered its environment completely. The rivers dried up and left stagnant water which became the breeding grounds for the mosquito. Further, due to crop failure, the people also remained undernourished. All these resulted in the rapid spread of malaria in the region (Sachs and Malaney 2002). Thus, the above example rightly states that environment can play a major role in the spread of a disease as well. The role of the environment in the chain of causation is given in detail in the below given image. While analysing the chain of causation for the case analysis of Michael Matane, the direct cause that caused the death of the child seems to be medication error or wrong diagnosis of the disease. The child had clearly suffered for such a long time due to negligence on the part of the parents as well as the health administrators. The child was a part of a nomad family which does not have a stable lifestyle and has always being roaming around for search of food. The do not have permanent residence and are always on the move. This increases the chances of picking some infections manifold, especially in small children. Further, Michael was only breast-fed for the first six months, which was stopped abruptly. He was not given any supplements or nutritional food along with breast feeding, which also weakened his defenses. The sudden withdrawn of the only nutritional source also affected his body. The neglect of the infant's health decreased his immunity towards infection and diseases considerably. Further, the unhygienic living condition also aggravated his health and he started suffering from malaria repeatedly. Although, he got regular treatment at the local health center, the environment around his house helped in the breading of anopheles mosquitoes and resulted in repeated malaria attacks. Later, the child may have also developed pneumonia, which further deteriorated his condition. However, the health center worker could not identify the symptoms and thought it was a common cough. The child was only given a cough syrup and due to wrong diagnosis and medication lost his life. Future scenario The year is 2035; healthcare system has greatly improved in the future with newer technologies being introduced that helps in diagnosing a disease in an instant. Patients are not required to wait long to find out about the disease they are suffering from. This has resulted in lesser number of deaths due to wrong diagnosis. As human intervention for diagnosing a disease has become minimal, cases of negligence due to wrong diagnosis have also reduced considerably. The improved healthcare system has also reached remote villages. Further, the socio-economic conditions of the people have also improved, which has resulted in greater awareness about diseases (Kreiger 2001). Also, the political conditions in the world have become much more stable and the governments are providing greater health facilities to the people. Due to the constant efforts by various non-governmental organisations and international organisations, the global environment has also seen improvements. Pollution level has come down and people are using more of renewable and green energy in their daily lives. These improved conditions have also led to developments even in the small town in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea. The people here no longer live like nomads. Instead, they have their own agricultural lands to till and a better lifestyle. The families are well-fed and nourished. They are also aware about their health needs and undergo regular check-ups. They take special care to keep their environment clean to reduce spreading diseases. Malaria is almost extinct in the region as every household takes care to keep their surroundings clean and makes sure that breading conditions are not provided to the anopheles mosquitoes. In case of any illness, the child is taken to the modernised health center which gives the right diagnosis and treatment. Further, it also finds the root cause of the disease and informs the authority to take appropriate action. For instance, recently Michael Matane, a three-year old boy, was diagnosed suffering from malaria. The authorities were informed of his condition and they undertook a supervision of Michael’s house and the nearby area. It was found that due to the recent rains, a small pool of stagnant water was formed at the backyard of an abandoned house in the neighborhood. This resulted in the breading of anopheles mosquitoes and the spread of malaria. The authorities took adequate steps and closed the pool to prevent the spread of the disease. Change analysis The above mentioned scenario is a very ideal situation, which would require continuous efforts not only in the field of healthcare, but also improvements in the socio-economic condition of the people, the political scenario as well as protection of the environment. This ideal situation takes place in the year 2035, which means the overall environment needs to improve in the next 25 years drastically to achieve such a perfect healthcare condition. First and foremost, the healthcare facilities provided to the people needs to improve. It is commonly found that people in the urban areas receive the best possible healthcare facilities, while the people living in rural areas are often neglected. This results in lack of proper healthcare facilities, doctors and nursing staff in these areas. This further affects the diagnosis and treatment of a disease. Thus, the overall healthcare system needs to be improved. Governments should make it mandatory for qualified and experienced doctors to visit the rural areas on a regular basis (Erkel et al 1994). The health center employees should also be given proper training to diagnose common ailments correctly. Further, more amount of resources should be allocated to develop healthcare facilities and services. Resources should also be allocated to automate the system. However, just improving the healthcare conditions would not ensure reducing the spread of diseases. In order to truly improve the living conditions of the people, the sociological as well as the economic conditions should also be enhanced. Every individual should be given equal opportunities, be it a person living in an urban area or a rural one. Economic independence should be provided to every one, which would eventually elevate their living condition as well (Donohue 2003). Further, sociological development should also be carried out. The people should be asked to educate their children and taught about the importance of healthcare. Child care should not be restricted to home remedies, instead mothers should be taught about how to undertake proper child care and provide balanced and nutritious food to their children. Further, concepts like family planning should also be introduced in different communities to halt population growth (Miguel and Kremer 2004). The governments of the world also need to work in a united manner to come out with healthcare policies that could be applied universally. Further, the government should be able to overhaul their healthcare surveillance team and start taking proactive steps rather than reactive actions to stop the spread of a disease (Maioni 2001). For instance, a centralised database should be created that would be linked with various district health centers. The healthcare workers at these centers would feed in data related to various diseases on a regular basis. This data would than be analysed by experts to find out if there is a certain trend of diseases in an area or to understand the reason behind the occurrence of a disease. Based on the results of these analyses the government may ask appropriate departments to take actions. In case the experts witness a certain rise in malaria cases in a region, the government may send in a team to inspect the area and spray medication to kill the mosquitoes. Further, the government is also the sanctioning authority and should be also allocate more resources for developing the healthcare technologies and services. The environment also needs to be looked after for providing good living conditions. In the contemporary world, people are suffering from diseases mainly due to environmental causes such as pollution. This needs to be restricted considerably. People should be made aware of their immediate environment and make sure that they live in a clean surrounding. Further, collective actions should be taken to clean the cities, towns, villages etc. Non-governmental agencies and international organisations also need to take more proactive steps to spread the use of green energy and renewable sources of energy to ensure less amount of pollution (Sunderlin et al 2005). Therefore, in order to reach an ideal situation, wherein quality healthcare services could be provided to the people, it is necessary to start the socio-economic, political, environmental and healthcare development right away. Reference: Beaglehole, R. and Bonita, R. 1997, "Public health at the crossroads: Achievements and prospects," Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univeristy Press. Chin, J.E. (Ed.) 1999, Control of communicable diseases mannual (17th ed.), Washington, DC: American Public Health Association. 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