A Country with High Mortality Rates - Term Paper Example

? Country with High Mortality Rates al Affiliation: Country with High Mortality Rates Introduction: Malawi was chosen for this study due to the currently public health services that the Government health institutions provide as free. However, it is notable that the Malawi government is in undergoing a process of continued exploration of mechanisms in terms of cost sharing while still maintaining high quality free services to the vulnerable citizens. Such aspects will begin with establishing optional fee facilities paying all public hospitals on behalf of users having an ability of paying. Eventually, the introduction of the health insurance among the employees for most formal sectors is also explored (Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. 2004). Coupled with such efforts, there will be reforms aiming at the improvement of the application of the financial resources through the improvement of locative and technical efficiencies. Documentation of sources of health financing (in terms of external, government cooperation and funding, firms as well as households) including their contribution to the total health spending is rather separate from the private and public health expenditures through the financing agents (MOH and NGOs) (Rosner, Leppert, Degens & Ouedraogo, 2012). There is a distinguishing factor between capital and recurrent expenditure through the provision of thorough breakdown based on the major line items of salaries and drugs maintenance. 2. Location/Geography Below is a summary of the physical environment of Malawi: the percentage of irrigated cropland land in Malawi is 0.0%; the percentage of arable land (in 2009) is 38.2% while the percentage of the forest area to the land area (in 2010) was 34.3%. malawi’s land area as at 2010 as at 94,280.0 square kilometers. The Ministry also intends to put up with the exploration process for purposes of ensuring feasible introduction of alternative sources in terms of financing health care in Malawi. At the central level, capacity is needed to be enhanced for purposes of reliably formulating and reviewing the policies, coordinating implementation and providing support to district health care management teams (Acton, 2012). 3. Population The total Population in 2010 was at 14,900,841.0, the 2010 Population growth (annual percentage) was at 3.1%, the 2010 Population density (persons for event square kilometer) was at 158.4 (Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. 2004), the Rural population in 2010 was 11,950,474.5, the rural population per square kilometer of arable land (Rural population density) was 0.0% (Peters, 2009), the 2010 Rural population (percentage to total population) was 80.2%, the 2009 Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people) was 13.1%; the 2009 Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people) was 44.2%; the 2010 Mortality rate, infant (for each 1,000 live births) was 58.1% (Peters, 2009); the 2010 Mortality rate, under-5 (for each 1,000) was 92.1% and the Labor force, total in 2009 was 6,005,705.8. the total years (Life expectancy at birth) in 2009 was 52.7% and the percentage of total labor force Labor force, female in 2009 was 49.2 (Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. 2004). 4. Government Through the 1995 constitution, the president of Malawi is considered as chief of state as well as the head of government through the universal direct suffrage for each 5 years. Malawi is also ruled by a vice president who is a president electee (Ghodse, 2011). The president also has an option of appointing second vice presidents from different parties. This includes presidentially appointed cabinets. The cabinet members of Malawi are drawn from outside or within of the legislature(Peters, 2009). The legislature in involved in the overall overseeing of the implementation of the strategic steps in the long run by all means (Peters, 2009). 5. Economy The table below illustrates the poverty indicators in Malawi: The Income share upheld by the lowest 20% in 2004 was at 7.0%; at national poverty line, poverty headcount ratio in percentage for the population in 2004 was at 52.4% (International Monetary Fund. 2007), the ratio of poverty headcount within the rural poverty line for the percentage of rural population in 2004 was at 55.9% and the approximate number of rural poor people in millions up to 2010 was 6,680,315.2 (Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. 2004). a. The below summary illustrates the education levels in Malawi: The literacy rate within the adult total, in percentage of people aging 15 and above across the year 2009 was at 73.7% while the school enrollment percentage sttod at a percentage gross os 135.5% in 2010. Health care considerations in Malawi are as follows: the percentage of physicians for every 1,000 people in 2008 was at 0.0%, the percentage of Health expenditure in total for of GDP in 2009 was at 6.2%; the percentage of rural population with water access (Improved rural water sources in 2008) was at 57.0%; the percentage of improved sanitation facilities (Improved sanitation sources in 2008) was at 77.0% while the percentage of of population against the prevalence of HIV for ages between 15 49 in 2009 was 11.0% (Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. 2004). The levels of agriculture and food for Malawi are as below: the percentage of Food imports merchandise imports in 2010 was at 13.6%, the Food production index in 2009 (1999-2001=100 years) was at 129.0; the Crop production index in 2009 (1999-2001=100 years) was at 141 while the Cereal yield in 2009 was at 1,598.60 kilograms for each hectare and the Fertilizer consumption for every 100 grams in hectares of the arable land in 2008 was at 1.7%. 6. State of Health The health system across the country requires further strengthening across all levels in terms of the provision of essential supplies and the reorientation of the skills and the knowledge for health workers in addressing new issues of health care. The most common diseases in China include Yellow Fever, Rabies, Hepatitis B, Japanese Encephalitis, Polio and Malaria (Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. 2004). For such instances, there is a significant proportion for the essential equipment in terms of delivery for health care which is either due to the state of disrepair and obsolescence or not available by all means. The efforts of improving this state of affairs will include the adoption by the Ministry of Health in terms of the Physical Assets Management Policies and Strategies in developing comprehensive and standard equipment lists regarding health centers and the district hospital levels (International Monetary Fund. 2007). Additionally, these efforts will be important in putting in place ideal strategies of enhancing the national acquisition of systems for non-medical and medical supplies. This also involves reviewing the existing processes and procedures for purposes of enhancing managerial and medical capacity at all levels for the health system (Ghodse, 2011). The other challenges for the Ministry of Health include the strengthening and improving the performance of district health systems as well as developing integrated health programs towards delivering the ideals of the EHP. The rate of accidents in Mlawi stands at Rate 45.39 and the country is ranked third in the world for the highest number of accidents with the death tol standing at 4,815 people (around 2.31%). Culture/Traditional Medicine The government embraces the recognition of the traditional healers’ roles of the lack of policy and legal framework available to the traditional healers in performing their functions together with the government policies. This way, the Ministry of Health continues interacting with them across various times. There is time in which the Ministry of Health allows some traditional healers in the administration of the treatment of AIDS in various Central Hospitals (Peters, 2009). On the other hand, the program was fully abandoned. The traditional forms of treatments do not have an available traditional medicine policy not a legal and regulatory framework. There are neither official organizations for traditional healers nor the availability of complementary and traditional medicine. The institutions involved in assessing traditional and complementary medicine are not officially available. On the other hand, the traditional healers do have an association that regulates their functions. 7. Healthcare System and Delivery There are various sections for the Malawi Health Sector that work along side one other with the aim of planning, managing and developing human resources which include the Human Resources and the Planning sections (International Monetary Fund. 2007). The nurses in Chiina have much emphasis on forming associations to lobby for their welfare and rights. Both sections are functional even though they lack capacity (Ghodse, 2011). Planning Section sets focus for human resources through the development of policies in terms of production for issues of capacity building. On the other hand, there lacks policies for which such elements in the section are based (Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. 2004). The Human Resources Section addreses the day to day modes of management for diverse human resources issues. Malawi embraces a comprehenive number of the training institutions for the basic and higher education across the health issues (Ghodse, 2011). 8. Health Priorities The Essential Health Package (EHP) of the Malawi government broadly consists of intervention areas such as treatment and prevention for vaccine preventable diseases, treatment and prevention of Tuberculosis and other related conditions, prevention, care and treatment for Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases (such as cholera), treatment and prevention of Schistosomiasis and similar conditions, addressing of Acute Respiratory Infections ad well as management and prevention of micronutrient deficiencies and Malnutrition (iodine, Vitamin A and Iron) (International Monetary Fund. 2007). There is also focus on management and prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS, Management of eye, skin and infections ear, andcommon injuries treatment such as emergency care for trauma and accidents (Sindima, 2002). The other essential Non-EHP Health aspects of provision of essential dental services and specialist eye services, mental health services, emergency care, prevention and control of epidemics, African Trypanosomiasis prevention, treatment and control as well as control and prevention of hazards due to the environmental factors of sanitation and water (Ghodse, 2011). 9. Nursing Implications The program area in this case comes in handy in the facilitation of the strengthening for various institutional processes targeting the enhancement of central support in the operational levels (nursing profession). On the other hand, the overarching strategic framework for the nursing activities includes the implementation for the Sector Wide Approach as well as the decentralization for the health sector (Sindima, 2002). The scope of nursing in Malawi focuses on support systems such as Drug procurement, distribution and management systems as well as Monitoring and Evaluation (including enhancing the activities of integrated disease surveillance),Essential laboratory services, in- and pre-service training, Information, Communication and Education, Planning, budgeting and management systems as well as the Patient management systems (Ghodse, 2011). The goal of this element is enhancing the Ministry of Health’s capacity for purposes of formulating policy, regulating the sector, coordinating the implementation for the Program of Work, monitoring progress and supporting the district level health services delivery. The implementation of such approaches requires institutionalization of newer ways of having to conduct Ministry of Health business towards strengthening the analytic capacity for staff within headquarters. This enables the effective support of the devolved district health systems (Sindima, 2002). This is crucial to the development of the appropriate service delivery systems that includes technical support as well as supervision for the referrals, lower levels, enhanced service delivery integration and the financial management of the health industry. References Acton, Q. A., (2012) Advances in Opportunistic Infection Research and Treatment: Edition. New York: ScholarlyEditions Ghodse, H., (2011) International Perspectives on Mental Health. New York: RCPsych Publications International Monetary Fund. (2007) Malawi: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper - Growth and Development Strategy (EPub) . New York: International Monetary Fund Malawi. Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. (2004) Malawi Economic Growth Strategy: Summary. Malawi: Ministry of Economic Planning and Development Peters, D. H., (2009) Improving Health Service Delivery in Developing Countries: From Evidence to Action. New York: World Bank Publications Rosner, H. J., Leppert, G., Degens, P,, Ouedraogo, L., (2012) Handbook of Micro Health Insurance in Africa. New York: LIT Verlag Munster Sindima, H. J., (2002) Malawi's first republic: an economic and political analysis. New York: University Press of America Read More