The Idea of Health in Dependency Theory and the Theory of World Systems - Coursework Example

Global Health Question Historical materialism is defined as the view that gives any economic explanation a preserved conception over any other non-economic explanations. According to Karl Marx, historical materialism starts from the mindsets of the people in the way they think, what they engage in their life, already in both place and whatever they come up with which completes the cycle that enables us to arrive at our necessities. Dependency theory explains the poverty of low-income countries as the result of the policies and practices that high-income countries pursue to amass greater wealth while putting low-income countries in a position of relative dependency on them (e.g., extracting resources). On the other hand, World systems theory emphasizes the interconnections of countries in the global capitalist production process, which results in an uneven distribution of profits across the countries depending on their participation in core or peripheral production activities (Explaining global inequality). This dependency theory tries to explain the pitfalls towards development and economic growth among the third world countries for instance, the un-proportional resource allocation as seen in the industrialization sectors and agricultural sectors; the underutilized routes like management of surplus productions to enhance economic growth other than development of underdevelopment. The relationship between the rich and the poor is much of the approach in understanding dependency ratio (Peet 43). Unlike the dependency system, the world systems theory on the other hand tries to explain the network of forces that have come into being through the intervention of man with an intention to shape the whole system other than a single unit towards development. The basic strengths of the whole system are based on conceptualization of the fact that institutions and organizations have to be transformed in such a manner that they can facilitate an upward trend in mobility (Explaining global inequality slide). The other difference between dependency theory and world systems theory is the fact that the former blames global poverty on wealth countries and multinational organizations, which is not satisfactorily true. The latter has its focus on global economy as a way of establishing a network through which the means of production can be enhanced and controlled as desired. Dependency theory is opposed to the reality that not all countries in the commodity production chains benefit variedly while world system theory acknowledges the same since specific tasks occur in geographically separate environments. From the world systems point of view, global health that is measured in terms of injuries, diseases famine and displacement are harms, which are largely associated to it. The other interference from the world systems approach is on rights, justice, and responsibilities. It is argued that world systems is the root cause for violations within a nation and beyond the boundaries. Multinational companies have been traversing the globe in search of minerals to mine and expand their business, however in the course of their duty they leave behind devastated landscape, which make the citizens of those countries vulnerable to famine. On the same note, the orientation of their business is exploitative thus; the nation in which they are mining the minerals is in a way deprived of their wealth (Explaining global inequality). The connection of this to health is directly the same as the wealth status of the nation. When a nation is mark timing in development since it cannot accumulate substantial amount of wealth, then there comes a time when it can hardly afford to facilitate the health and education of its citizens. However, if a country works toward expanding their business opportunities, it will eventually have sufficient resources to influence development within and outside their country as seen among global market players. World system can therefore be credited for leading the path development in underdeveloped countries, which has seen a remarkable reduction in indicators of negative health status. Question 2 The nonprofit sector includes the global foundation which oversee health status of all the countries in the world for instance WHO. Their role in health can never be underestimated whatsoever since they provide logistical data on the health status of several countries from where a course of action can be decided. For the role they play in global health, it is therefore important that such organizations are respected and strengthened by donors and other financial institutions. Other nonprofit organizations help to source and distribute funds by allowing donors to directly make donations towards projects in developing countries; for instant an individual can fund say 100 children who are due for a particular treatment (Katzenberg 139). The business sector is recognized and appreciated for bringing forth the background and mode of thinking that is prevalent in the business world to the social world. Their expertise in drawing agendas for the health sector in order of priority and allocating the resources to suitably ensure that they meet the targets they have set. The ambitions of the business sector is much associated to problem solving which in this case is to safe the masses from oppression by poverty and edges of poor health which deters people from becoming innovative in their lives. They generally bring with them the managerial expertise that is used to face complex business operations and finance, blending approaches derived from venture capitalists to measure up to their task. Examples of such frontiers are seen in the fight against poor eyesight in which banks have participated in. in the Gates articles, it is a responsibility of the business community to offer their support and expertise to salvage lives from poor health and poverty (Katzenberg 144). The government too is just another important facilitator of health whose participation is equally commendable. According to Gates, governments usually engage in collaborative philanthropy to directly source for funds or partnerships with other institutions to facilitate the process of health improvement in this case. This is based on the understanding that the magnitudes of problems to be solved are not dependant on money alone but rather the power of partnership and diversity of talents. It is the effort of the government to toe the line of public-private partnership that inspires donors to collaborate with the government in improving the health status of the world around them. The power in a government’s authority when enjoined with the willingness of financing bodies forms a formidable force to fight against health deterioration. The government is therefore crucial in providing mobility that includes policy making regarding health and formation of unions among the health practitioners through which they can seek out finance for research and further learning. The government is also important in providing the leadership, which the donors can later on follow in executing their programs (Katzenberg 145). Question 3 Integrative medicine is defined as the medical approach whereby the relationship between the patient and the practitioner is emphasized. As opposed to the other approaches, this method focuses on the whole personality and is thus informed by evidence in administering medication. In fact, it makes use of almost all the health disciplines to achieve optimal handling of patients. Integrative Medicine would help the world in so many ways; when the patient is able to speak out their problems confidently following the good relationship that the practitioner is fostering, it becomes easy to treat them. Some other diseases in the world might just need advice from the practitioners on what to eat and what not to eat and for this reason; nutritional diseases are better treated through advice by the medical personnel. The other benefit to the world is enabling the practitioner to reaffirm their thoughts on what the patient is suffering from and hence give the suitable medication. Question 4 The tragedy of commons can be explained as the negative inflictions that hit back on us due to untamed freedom in the use of such resources as oil or water. Under a health point of view, such resources, which are necessary for steady health environment like drugs, do have side effects if they are counterfeit but since people prefer cheaper medicine the effects of using counterfeit products deters the effectiveness of any stronger medicine coming after. This makes the population vulnerable to any disease outbreak. The other example is water, which is largely used by everybody from farms to hospitals. The accessibility of clean water is crucial to ensuring a healthy environment however, if the same is compromised due to high population to be served, the population will have little access and subsequent negative impact on health. Question 5 The United States compares to Romania demographically in the sense that their variation in such indicators as life expectancy at birth, literacy rate, births attended by professional, physicians per 10,000 persons and many more is so lean. This is just an indication of how well the governments of the two countries have invested in an improved health in the nation. There is however a clear contrast between the two countries in the amount of budgetary spending as a percentage of GDP among the health, education and military sectors. The United States despite having a higher population has a substantially higher spending in these sectors as compared to Romania. This significant investment to improve the quality of health is replicated in the indicators of reproduction. As a matter of fact, the three fold spending by the United States as compared to Romania in the health sector has translated to a reduction by half the infant mortality per 1000; under five mortality per 1000 and maternal mortality per 100,000 live births occurring in United States as opposed to in Romania ((United States versus Romania slide). In the two nations, the burden of disease is comparative only on the HIV prevalence per 1000 people. The percentage of the total burden between the two nations however, compares similarly with Romania having 18% while US has 13%. There is a contrast however in the other indicators like prevalence of tuberculosis per 1000 people, DALYs per 1000 people and malnutrition indicators in particular percentage stunting. In these three cases, Romania is the worst hit especially the tuberculosis prevalence per 1000 heads in which Romania has the highest with 159 as compared to United States with 5. The DALYs proportionality per cause is high for noncommunicable diseases among the Romanians while among the Americans it is high for injuries. The proportions however have a similar pattern for the two countries in the sense that, noncommunicable diseases leads followed by injuries then communicable diseases (United States versus Romania slide). The future of health issue is quit comparable for the two countries. For the two countries, there has been a remarkable improvement as shown by indicators of death rates per 1000 people. The general trend between the two countries as well is equally comparable given that for the past 100 years, significant improvements have been made in the health sector and there has been a notable positive trend over the years. The other indicator is the amount of spending that health sector is allocated. Although the contrast is in what each nation is allocating as a percentage of its GDP, there is an indication that with more allocations the health of the nation will improve tremendously. The contrast however is in the response that Romania is according tuberculosis index given that it is an extreme compared to the United States. Despite the fact that the other indicators show an improvement in the health system, rapid response should be directed to combat tuberculosis (United States versus Romania slide). Extra credit question China’s One Child Policy can be defined as that family set up in which there is one child, father, and mother. This is majorly tailored to control the population among the city occupants’ government employees and partially among the rural residents where a second born child was only allowed after a five-year break. This set up has been the goal for china following the pressure they face from the high population especially when addressing human needs. The projected trend of continued population growth would compromise development in a great deal. There are steps and regulations that the china government has established to ensure that the implementation of this policy eventually yields the desired results. For instance, late marriage and childbearing has been a resounding promise in the course of firming up the policy. The other way of implementing the same is by ensuring that the space between one child and the other is wide especially where a second child born. Since the rule is enforceable with few exceptions, success has been achieved over time since the pressures of population increase have been contained substantially especially when viewed from the population target the government set for to be achieved by the year 2000 which was 1.2billion the census at then indicated the population to be at 1.27billion. In fact, the realization of the intentions of the policy has received positive reaction from the population. The relationship between overpopulation and health comes in through the cycle of obtaining food for human consumption. When the population is too high than the environment can support, the health of the population is eventually affected. Sufficient clean water is one of the challenges that an overpopulated country is faced with. The mechanisms of ensuring sanitation is maintained high crops as a challenge. The other relationship is seen terms of pollution of the environment. The various interactions, which result in environmental pollution eventually makes the human population vulnerable to environmentally related diseases for instance skin cancer. Work Cited Greenhalgh, S. (2008). Just one child: Science and policy in Deng's China. Berkeley: University of California Press. Kastenberg, Joshua E. The Blackstone of Military Law: Colonel William Winthrop. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2009. Print. Peet, Richard. Global Capitalism: Theories of Societal Development. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. Read More