Life Expectancy at Birth - Essay Example

Statistics reveal that life expectancy at birth, presently, has increased so much that on average, it “exceeds 79 years” across the OECD, with a “nine-year gap” between Japan and Turkey, the countries with the highest and lowest life expectancy respectively (OECD, 2011, p. 78). This difference in the level of increase in life expectancy in developed and developing countries is a result of the varied factors and conditions present in both categories of countries. However, extensive studies that have been conducted over the past several years have identified that medical innovation, concerning advancements in medicines and treatment, is the main reason behind the increase in life expectancy in both developed and developing countries.

Contrary to the popular notion that growth in income level or income inequality affects life expectancy, OECD social indicators have evidenced that between the “mid-80s and mid-2000s,” there is “no relationship” between increasing life expectancy and income growth or between “rising” life expectancy and income inequality changes (OECD, 2011, p. 79). Furthermore, lower “infant mortality rates” and the fact of older people being able to live “longer” have characterized the increase in life expectancy, and this has been possible only due to the various medical innovations that took place over the past decades. Thus, this underlines the fact that medical innovation is directly responsible for the increase in life expectancy not only by decreasing infant mortality rates but also by prolonging the life of aged people. For instance, death rates arising from “coronary heart diseases” in the US have declined by “three-fourths” since the 1960s, the cancer survival rate has increased from “49%” to “67%” and deaths from HIV/AIDS have decreased by an astounding “80%” (Lilly USA, LLC, 2012, p. 2). However, to understand the impact medicine has had on life expectancy, let's begin with each stage of a human’s life, starting with their birth to when they reach old age. To begin with, in earlier times, there was not much of a safe method for mothers to deliver their babies, thus, sometimes resulting in either the death of the mother or the birth of a stillborn child. However, with the introduction of hospitals and methods of childbirth such as the caesarian, especially in cases where “delivery through the birth canal (vagina) is not possible or safe,” life expectancy significantly increased (University of Michigan Health System, 2014, p. 1). The next stage, which is the infant or young child stage, saw improvements in health thus resulting in increased life expectancy through the provision of various vaccinations such as Polio, immunization, and drug developments. Baker and Fugh-Berman find that rapid adoption of new drugs enables “substantial benefits” such as “increased life expectancy, higher productivity” as well as “lower non-drug healthcare expenditures” (2009, p. 678). The healthcare industry further expanded thus making available new medicines and new drugs to fight various diseases, thereby securing the life of teenagers and young adults. In terms of the middle-aged and the elderly, various breakthroughs in different medical fields, especially the oncology department have led to the finding of better treatments, thus enabling the patients undergoing treatment to live longer. For instance, modern medicine has devised various treatments and therapies including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and other surgeries to fight against cancer (American Cancer Society, 2012, p. 24).