Major Public Health Issues in the Us and Developing Nations - Essay Example

Major Public Health Issues in the Us and developing nations - specifically infant mortality rates and HIV rates Infant mortality and HIV rates is one the major health issues that affects many countries in the world. The worst affected being the developing nations, which are associated with poor health facilities, poverty, and poor living standards. However, many developed nations like the United States are not spared either. The purpose of this paper is therefore, to explore the statistical comparison of infant mortality and HIV rates in the United States and other developed nations like Japan and developing nations like India, and what the United States can learn from other developed nations with better rate.

Comparison of infant mortality rates and HIV rates in The Us and that of Japan and India Infant mortality rate refers to the number of infant deaths under the age of one year compared with one thousand lives births. The United States being a developed country with advanced technology and good health facilities experience low infant mortality rate and HIV rate as compared to that of India, one of the developing nation in the world. However, Japan on the other hand, have lower infant mortality rate and HIV prevalence as compared with the United States.

According to the CIA Factbook (par 175) on infant mortality rate, it was found that the United States had an average infant mortality rate of 6.26 per every 1000 live births. India, had an average of 30.15 per 1000 live births, while Japan had an infant mortality rate of 2.78 for every 1000 live births (CIA Factbook par 219). According to the National AIDS Control Organization report (2006) it was estimated that one in every eight Indians were infected with HIV and Aids. This figure translated to about 5.

2 million Indians infected. In contrast, the HIV prevalence in the United States stands at below 1%. (Epstein 2010). Seth et al (45) found out that 65,000 HIV infected women give birth every year in India, this has lead to about one third of the children born of HIV infected mothers also getting infected with the virus in the absence of preventive measures, and this has increased the infant mortality rates in India. According to the report, HIV negative infants born of mothers infected with the virus are found to be prone to many illnesses leading to early deaths.

Therefore, HIV and Aids is a major contributor of infant mortality in most developing countries in the world as is the case in India. High Infant mortality and HIV rates in India has been attributed to poverty, poor diet and ignorance, and poor health facilities and unlimited education on HIV aids and Infant mortality. India however, has over the years made progress in the improvement of their health facilities to reduce infant mortality and reduce the HIV infections in the country. These measures saw a decline of infant mortality by 23% between 1981 and 1990 (Pandey 34).

Consequently, many infant mortality in the United states is not caused by the HIV infections but instead is majorly caused by congenital malformations, which is a disorders resulting from short gestation and low birth weight, which causes infant death syndrome. This has accounted for approximately 43% of all infant deaths in the United States according to the Centre for Disease, Control and Prevention Report (13). Abortion has also contributed significantly to infant mortality in the United States since it is legalized.

The World population Prospect report and the CIA Factbook (2009) shows that the United States has higher infant mortality rate of 6.26 compared to Japan with 2.94. HIV prevalence rate in Japan also stand at a low of 0.2% according to the CIA Factbook. However, the infection rates are still on the rise in Japan and this is contributing to a considerable increase in infant mortality rate. The first case of HIV in Japan was reported through blood transfusion, however, to day about 78% of new infections are as a result of sexual intercourse.

However, the low infant mortality rate in Japan is attributed to proper health standard maintained and education on the effect of HIV and Aids and the proper ways on how to reduce the infant mortality. According to the Japanese government, HIV and Aid has not been a major concern to them, instead they insist that in order to prevent it from spreading, it is just a matter of preventing pregnancies. However, in the United States it is considered a pandemic, which is given keen attention. The United States must therefore emulate the Japanese Policy and ensure that proper health care services are available to all its people by ensuring that the infant are provided with proper care by making policies that takes responsibilities of infant and children something that has been lacking (Tillet 43).

Due to high infant mortality rate in the United States there is an urgent need to for standardize the care offered to exposed infants. This will help in promoting the follow-up and prevention of mortality by offering counseling and assuring the early detection of infections. Impact on nursing practice India is one of the most populous countries in the world with about 1.21 billion people according to the Census report of 2011. However, the workforce in India is projected to increase according to the United Nations population projections (13).

The Indian workforce is projected to be able to care for the increasing population in India. However, the report predicts that the Japan population is declining with the elderly increasing. It suggests that over the next 45 years, the population of Japan will decline by 25 million with the number of the elderly growing resulting in a decline in the working force from 3.1 in 2005 to 1.3 in the next 45 years. The nurses contribute greatly in the provision of health services in India, The United States and Japan.

They ensure that proper care and treatments are provided to the sick. Due to high population in India there has seen a huge shortage of nurses to handle the ever-growing population according to the World Health Organization report. This shortage has therefore necessitated the Indian government to seek for more trained professional in the health sector. In conclusion, from the comparisons made with respect to infant mortality rate and HIV prevalence in the United states , Japan and India, it is evident that developing countries still experience high infant mortality rates and HIV infections due to poverty, poor health facilities, ignorance and laxity on the governments of these countries in initiating policies that protects and safeguards infant and children.

Work Cited CIA Factbook. Country Comparison: Infant mortality rate. 2011. 9 December, 2011. Web. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html Epstein H, Morris, One & PLo S, Timing is everything: International variations in historical sexual partnership concurrency and HIV prevalence. 2010. Seth A, Chandra J, Gupta R, Kumar P, Outcome of HIV Exposed Infants: Experience of a Regional Pediatric Center for HIV in North India. Indian Journal of Pediatrics. 2011.

Pardey Arvid, Choe kim Minja, Luther Norman Y, Sahu Damodar & Chand Jagdish. Infant and Child mortality in India: National Health Survey Subject Report, Dec. 1998 No. 11 Tillett J. Global Health and Infant Mortality: What Can We Learn From Other Systems? The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing. 2010.