Issues and Challenges Involved in the Development Fair and Equitable Health Policy - Essay Example

'Issues and Challenges Involved in the Development Fair and Equitable Health Policy' is a worthy example of a paper on the health system. 
The creation of health policies is not easy. National governments have track records of coming up with several contentious policy issues with regard to healthcare. To come up with the best strategies, organizations like the World Health Organization strive to accelerate the learning curve through the identification of the policies that appear to be promising and diffusing them across state borders (Lavis, 2002). Even in such instances, there are barriers that the countries need to overcome in order for the objectives of the created systems to be achieved. This treatise explores issues and challenges associated with the development of fair and equitable health policies.

Discussion

Despite the advancement in the quality of care, the making of equitable health policies still continues to face a lot of challenges. The process itself has not gotten any easier with countries that rank high in the World Health Organization’s rankings also facing these barriers (Mason, Leavitt & Chaffee, 2014). Countries have to strive to come up with fairer systems so that they can be able to address the vital societal needs

Change in Democracy and Disease Patterns

One of the important aspects that need to be considered when coming up with health policies meant to ensure equitable services is the demographic patterns in a particular country. The demography of a country changes from time to time depending on several factors including the economic status of a country. The change brings with itself a very big challenge to creators of health policies. The change dictates whether the proposed systems will be fair or not. The aging population has, for example, known to challenge the ability of the health systems in a country to ensure the well-being of the society. In such a society the life expectancy is expected to be about 73 years. The implication of this is that a lot of resources are required to prevent chronic illnesses which are associated with old age. This makes the government come up with policies focused on the acute care sector and neglect the other areas of the health sector.

Cost of technology

Over the years, technology has been slowly integrated into the health care systems to not only improve quality but also ensure that the services are fairly and equitably distributed. To ensure that good policy needs to be put in place. Evans (2013) however notes that the cost of the new technologies that are used in the sector poses a major challenge when drafting and implementing the policies both at the national and international levels. Various diagnostic, as well as therapeutic advances like the radiological scanner, require large capital investments. The cost, therefore, influences the extent to which the technology will be integrated into the systems. In most instances, governments need to determine the areas that need to be prioritized. It is such areas that are allocated the technologically advanced equipment. The implication of this is that the made policies will not be giving the entire population equal and fairer access to the health services that they require.

The nature of the health workforce

Healthcare professionals also play a very important role in determining the kind of health services that are available in a country. The willingness of the doctors and the rest of the professionals to work for long durations of time determine if the population will have fair access to the services (Shrader-Frechette, 2005). The doctors’ ability to work is influenced by their age and the need to balance between their work and family life. This is a challenge that governments face when they try to come up with policies that are intended to make sure that the services are equally available to the members of the state. The work and the individual aspirations of the professionals influence how they will live and how they will practice. According to Schlesinger (2007), the supply and distribution of the health workforce is a very vital factor and barrier that no government can neglect when drawing up fair health care policies. The shortage of workforce puts the policymakers in a very awkward position.

Global Growth

Global growth has resulted in the rapid expansion of populations in various countries causing a challenge in planning and sustaining fair and equitable healthcare. Increased urbanization has caused public safety concerns, access to food and pollution concerns. The impacts of global growth are ever-changing, making it difficult for policy planners to factor them in the created policies (Lavis, 2002). Another aspect of globalization that poses a challenge to the creation of equitable health policies are the threats that it has on the global environment. The international concerns on infectious diseases dictate the kind of policies that will be deemed acceptable in combating such infections. This, in turn, is a barrier to the creation of policies and strategies especially in cases where the national health concerns greatly differ from international concerns.

Private-public mix in healthcare funding

Healthcare services require funding from both the private and the public sectors. However these two sources of funding are quite different and this, in turn, affects the kind of policies that will ensure equitable access to health and those that will not (Evans, 2013). Private health insurance is very much regulated whereas the public sector is less regulated. Most private health funds providers also respond to some cases by moving their bad risks towards the public sector. This is a very tricky mix that is quite difficult to maintain in achieving equitable care. Policy creators are normally at odds in trying to strike this balance.

Summary

The kind of policies created by the involved stakeholders determines whether there will be equitable and fair access to healthcare or not. In drafting the policies, changing demographic patterns, cost of new technology, nature of the workforce, global growth and public-private funding mix poses a huge challenge to the governments. The stakeholders must come up with avenues for addressing them to be able to meet the objectives and visions of the sector.