Cultural Effects on Health among the Elderly and General Population - Essay Example

Introduction        The project attempts to obtain inner understanding on cultural effects on health among the elderly and general population at large. Some programs that have been established in UK have helped boost the healthcare sector. The country is advanced in health sector and it has been in position to manage many diseases that deters most countries of the World. The paper studies the cultural attitudes of elderly people towards the home care services in China. Research has shown that these groups of persons have high valuations on quality of healthcare services provided to them. The difference in facilities and conditions of services has influenced greatly the perceptions of most citizens of China (Anon, 2005).        There are other several factors that influence the decisions of people on healthcare services. Marital and financial ability are regarded to be some of the main factors that affect the willingness among most adults to stay in certain healthcare institutions. Most countries have faced a lot of challenges in healthcare provision. United Kingdom is more superior in terms of health services as compared to China. The country has enough health facilities that most people across the world belief to be the best. China is challenged to establish an intimate caring atmosphere. The environment should be safe. Therefore exporting of elderly services to China from other countries might proof difficult due to cultural differences. (Awases, 1998)       Culture impedes most healthcare projects in a country. According to Critical Race Theory, cultural differences hamper provision of healthcare services. China is a country with the largest population in the world and this has greatly affected cultural influence in healthcare. United Kingdom is obliged to design proper marketing strategies s as to overcome the barrier. Articles that have been used as lens for examining the effects of culture on healthcare services reveal that healthcare differences and education have been influenced adversely by culture. It is imperative for the country to address the issue of race and ethnicity through cultural competency. Most elderly and other patients doubt the competency of their healthcare practitioners. There are great barriers such as distance, education, social and cultural ones. The demand for the services is not affected by the way services are delivered. According to Health Programs in China and UK, these barriers determine accessibility of the services by the public. It is imperative that issues related to marketing of healthcare services be addressed by the investors who are willing to export their products to China. Although there is no simple solution to achieve cultural competency, it can be fostered within healthcare practitioners and education to change the way different cultures are viewed (Liu, 2003). Objectives The objectives of the this thematic project are: To identify and critically analyze the problems of healthcare provision due to cultural attitudes To provide insights on ways in which citizens of a country can overcome the cultural attitude hence able to access healthcare services that are within the country To enable the healthcare providers to understand and be aware of the importance of constructive dialogue concerning cultural beliefs and practices that have already been established among citizens. To criticize the cultural attitudes and practices that are common in many countries to enable people change their perceptions and way of doing things in future To sensitize the public on the need and importance of utilizing the available services within their reach (Tang, 2006).     According to studies conducted, most provinces in China are very remote and people live below poverty line.Yunnan is one of them. The health status of the people living in these areas is very worrying. Poverty has gone to an extent of affecting their reproductive health status of the whole population. The study also shows that inaccessibility of home health care services by the older people is a great barrier. People lack information about the available health services. The government lacks strategies and supportive structures that can be used to monitor the situation. This has affected the export activities of other countries. United Kingdom has had difficulties in providing of health services in China. This has been enhanced by limited intervention programs which have a far reaching influence on the quality of home care health services in the country (Anon, 2005). Analysis and Observations China lags behind due to cultural differences between the communities. Enforcement of intellectual property protections are not very active due to the cultural differences that exist in the country. Some communities view intellectual property that is good for the benefit of a group of people or the community which differs from the West which considers it good for individual. Research shows that the forms of treatment done in the two countries are quite different. According to Bangladesh Mental Health Association, a body that monitors the level and quality of health service in China, older people do not get enough care as compared to those in other countries. The Health Agency in this does not look over the shoulders of the clinicians and other heath service providers in the country. Village doctors are very ignorant hence do not attend the elderly patients as expected. The body further reveals that the older people with mental problems who require home care health services have a culture of demanding services from other countries. This means that they do not have confidence in their own system (Mortimer, 2000) Chinas healthcare system is very poor and it declined drastically during the transition period i.e. from centralized planned system to decentralized marked based system. There was limited funding by government since investors believe that investing in health services does not generate any profit. The government regulation of healthcare service providers in the country was very limited. Provision of the services was done with profit motive. The public trust on these health service providers eroded hence people preferred to seek these services elsewhere. During this transition period, the investors operated under the pressure of market economy. They prioritized on income generating activities hence health services were neglected in the country. The inefficiency and ineffectiveness of medical systems in the country were felt in early 1980s. The cultural attitude has affected that is dominant in China has affected the accessibility of health services by women. Women health is take to refer to reproductive functions only. Programs such as antiretroviral therapy programs to expectant and breastfeeding mothers are not utilized. There was decline of rural cooperative health services systems.  The fact that the government at one point provided funds to the health sector did not guarantee the efficiency and quality of home care health services. This is due to unregulated private health system that was common in the country (Freidli, 2000)        The Commission for Healthcare Services Providers and Inspection has criticized the standards of home care services that are in China. The elderly have been affected by the poor standards offered by the country’s health care providers. This has generated a lot of phobia among citizens of the country hence most have a negative attitude towards the health services. People in the country have had a culture of preferring health products from other countries. The elderly opt for home care services from countries like UK and England. The home services in the country have been criticized for being vague and that the elderly are becoming vulnerable to a lot of dangers. The Patient Home Services Agency has a lot of limitations that call for more criticism and debated around the world.  If a country has a problem in recruiting quality medical staff, then the public will not trust them (Katherine, 2007).        Lack of excellent nursing staff has shifted the cultural attitudes of many elderly people in China. There is no compassionate and skilled staff in most parts of the country. The private patient centered and healthcare organizations are not dedicated to providing the much needed quality service to the elderly. An excellent nursing body should provide a wide range of health services to the public. The health nursing teams in this country do not understand the problems associated with aging such as physical vulnerabilities, memory loss and psychiatric conditions. Lack of commitment among the healthcare team has raised a lot of concerns hence most elderly people have had negative attitudes towards their services. This has led to culture of importing elderly patient home care service from other countries (Paoletti, 2006)        The country is also faced with problem of differences in social status. There exist social differences between the health care practitioners and the elderly patients hence limiting the utilization of the health services provided by these providers. There is communication barrier between the elderly and the service providers. Most people have developed an attitude of having medical attendants at home. Furthermore, the country is faced with problems of cultural conventions on proper treatment of health issues among the older people (Brett, 2000). China Health Services have other limitations which include: The greater part of the population is aging. According to 2005 data, over 8% of the population are over 65 years. The inability of the country to manage the health of the older population is raising a lot of concern. The government does not have geriatric subspecialty to monitor very critical elderly conditions The uneven allocation of health facilities and other resources has made people opt for more services from other countries. There is uneven distribution of health services between the rural and the urban areas. The highest percentage of China’s population live in rural areas hence requires home care services. This sharply contrasts with the fact that most health services are located in cities. The changes in types of diseases have caused a lot of problems in the country. The existing poor health services team in the country cannot manage these changes.  Chinese community lacks strong record of customer satisfaction. Most businesses owned by the State are believed to produce poor quality services. Chinese community believes that the health services that are from the government are not of standard quality hence prefers imported products. Due to this, the demand for health products produced within the country was so low that there was a lot of surplus. This situation prevailed in the country in the early 70s. Most companies in the country do not pay attention on quality of their products. People develop negative culture of importing products from other countries. The way the Chinese companies blends or brands their products is not up to standard .Most companies are characterized by non-productivity and non-profitability. The population feared the health service products produced by China based companies (Kirtsten, 2008)     The top government decision makers should be much concerned with the supply of home care health services. Supply of health services in a country is affected by the decision made by the government. There should be constant supply of these services by the practitioners or the agencies which have been mandated to do so. The agencies are obliged to ensure that there is just accessibility of services. The supply decisions should be dominated and determined by the population of the country. China is a very populated country hence there should be enough services especially to the older people. If there is continued supply in the home care health services, then the public will have confidence on their own health service facilities. This will change the cultural attitude of desiring for exported services.        It is essential for the government to promote health and confront diseases in the country.  This calls for wide range of actions in the health system. The government has to reach its citizens through influential mechanisms, improved policymaking and better access to medical equipment by the public. Possible Solutions        Healthcare teams in China have been stricken by the cultural attitude of the elderly in the country in accessing the relevant services. United Kingdom should address educational matters that affect the conception of the older people in China. It is surprising that the older people do not have relevant information on ways of accessing effective services that are present in the country. The foreign country should corporate with the Chinese government to make the public be aware of the importance of home care health services especially to the elderly people. According to data gathered through controlled research shows that there is imbalance on barriers and education on these services. Research shows that cultural interventions are the possible ways to overcome the attitudes of the citizens in China. The health services should reach the elderly people at an adequate standard. The government should spend a lot of resources to convince the public on healthcare provisions in the country. The negative cultural attitude that the China elderly people have should be eradicated through educational interventions. The fact that people in China travel long distances to access healthcare services should not be a problem any more (Lee, 2000).The government of UK should chip in to support the China government in providing health infrastructures. Chinese citizens are forced to travel long distances in order to get these services. Intellectual property ownership has pose problems in China. Any investor should address this matter of looking at intellectual property through education. It is important for UK to establish long term relationships with the citizens or the Chinese Government. This enables the exporters to evade chances of bribing the authorities to allow them to carry their own investors. Bribery and corruption is rampant in China. Long term relationships are the only way in which the UK potential investors can avoid these bad habits (Carter, 2004) The country has poor public health facilities which are not used by the people. The public bypass these services looking for better ones. Poor households and individuals should have the right to access healthcare services. There should be designed features that are aimed at overcoming barriers in accessing healthcare services. This is poverty dimension where the poor can access the services at minimum cost. Costly services are burden to the poor. The government should eliminate some designed features that can hinder the poor households especially the elderly from accessing these services (Godger, 2005) Health care service providers should address the matters relating to health services accessibility. For UK exports to do well in China, it should emphasize on the important of equality between women and men. The culture where the Chinese people believed that women do not have rights to access the services should be address fully. From studies, women in China are referred to only reproductive functions but they are not viewed to be important people in the society (Carter, 2004).        The UK exporters should consult extensively with the different communities in order to understand the possible barriers that limit their activities of health services provision. It is paramount that exporters establish possible interventions as a way forward to overcoming the barriers and this should be acceptable by the public especially the elderly. The interventions used should concur with the culture of the people. The home care services provided by the government should be culturally sensitive. China population is faced with social discrimination due to aspects of culture dominant in the country. Cultural attitude takes time to change hence exporters in conjunction with the government (China) should strategize enormously so as to avoid the social discrimination that might affect health services accessibility by the elderly. The government should come with pragmatic approaches that are both short and long term so as to change the prevalent attitudes which affect healthcare service provision. These approaches should incorporate education that can change attitudes over time. Overcoming cultural attitudes is a very complex process that calls for strong interventions which are based on both national and local levels (Hutchson, 2001).        It is very important for the country to develop strategies that can aid in provision of home healthcare services for the elderly at all times. These services should be present in every community. The government should build comprehensive health services centers especially in the rural areas. The government is going to reduce importation of the elderly home care services from UK (Dovlo, 2006)        Data from CNCA shows that over 50 percent of elderly people live in rural areas without their children hence they need more care. The deputy director of CNCA, Yan Qingchun said, "With more parents of the only-child generation becoming old, the ratio of lonely elderly families will certainly grow, and the demand for care for the old is mounting." This means that the government has the obligation of providing services to the elderly (Rowe, 1998). Data collected by relevant companies such as CNCA shows that elderly persons in the Chinese community prefer home-based healthcare services. UK exporters can invest a lot of funds in private health sectors to establish new healthcare systems for the elder population to enhance equal distribution of the health facilities in China. Unequal distribution of resources accompanied by constrains imposed by the cultural attitudes and diversity should be prioritized by the UK exporters (Agha, 2003) Summary and Recommendations         The UK investors should put in place strategies that aim at regulating the health system in the country. Unregulated health system erodes the health status of the public and the elderly are the ones mostly affected. This is because the elderly cannot criticize or even realize problems concerning the health services that they access. The fact that health service provision is done by people with the motive of generating profit for their personal gain is very harmful to the society. It is the duty of the government to built trust on the quality and efficiency of the health services that are provided by the health system present in the country. It has to restore the broad accessibility of the health services (especially to the elderly) where equity, quality and cost containment prevails (Nuwaha, 1997). Some of issues that should be addressed in dealing the matter are beyond the control of the UK investors. For example, the China government has a duty of centrally regulating health funds to enhance equity in allocation. This enhances availability of these services in all parts of the country. The health funds in the country are poorly utilized due to poor distribution and inefficient systems that are in place. The government should strategize on capacity building. 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