Factors Contributing to Low Life Expectancy - Essay Example

Different countries have different life expectancy rates because of differences in prevailing mortality factors. Existing research shows that there is generally low expectancy in developing countries as compared to the developed world (Dalkhat, 2007). In this essay, the various factors that account for the low expectancy in the developing world are critically analysed.

Factors Contributing to Low Life Expectancy Poverty The table below gives a list of the first ten countries with the highest life expectancy and the last ten countries with least life expectancy against their individual gross domestic product (GDP) for 2011 Expectancy World Ranking Country Average Age GDP per capita income (USD) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 218. 219. 220. 221. 222. 223. 224. 225. 226. 227. Monaco Macau San Marino Andorra Guernsey Japan Singapore Hong Kong Australia Italy Somalia Central Africa Republic Zimbabwe South Africa Guinea-Bissau Swaziland Chad Nigeria Afghanistan Angola 89.73 84.41 83.01 82.43 82.16 82.25 82.14 82.04 81.81 81.77 50.4 50.07 49.64 49.33 48.7 48.66 48.33 47.56 45.02 38.76 172,676 40,919 49,300 44,952 43,400 42,783 43,117 31,514 55,672 34,059 139 429 595 7,300 500 3,133 837 1,222 362 5,000 Source: Nation Master (2011) The table above gives a very glaring proof of the fact that poverty is a factor that accounts for low expectancy in developing countries.

This is because all least scoring countries on the expectancy have very low per capita income as compared to the first ten highest scoring countries. Poverty leads to malnutrition, ill-health and other life-threatening health and social issues that affect the chances of people living for long. Poor Healthcare System Highly related to the first factor, poverty causes most developing countries not to have very comprehensive and well-managed healthcare systems in place. Undeniably, quality healthcare is responsible for improved and increased quality healthcare of the citizenry.

The Insurance Risk Guide (2009) outlines three major components of a quality healthcare system. These include “adequate scientific knowledge for supporting high-quality health care” (Insurance Risk Guide, 2009). This point trumpets the need for comprehensive scientific research into finding new and most workable discoveries that need to be put in place in the health sector. Without any doubt, this cannot be done in the absence of personnel, financing sourcing and scientific techniques. Sadly, these cannot be done in the midst of poverty.

The second component is adequate access to Health Care. In developing countries, it is sad to note that access to healthcare is only available to the privileged few. The final component is Medical Persons and Medical Institutions. The meaning of this is that the absence of health professionals and facilities cannot promote quality healthcare. But in developing countries, there are inadequate health practitioners and health facilities (Koduah, 2009). War and Acts of Violence War and acts of violence such as robbery threaten the existence and expectancy of people.

This is because these acts lead to death. Unfortunately, there exist such acts of war in several developing countries. As per the table above, several countries in the last ten slot of the life expectancy rate either have an existing civil war or a history of civil war. Conclusion Even though we all will exit the world one day, it is very important that conditions that will make people live their lives to the fullest are put in place. As discussed above, most of the contributing factors to low expectancy in the developing world are avoidable.

Leaders, advocates and individuals living in such nations are admonished to take advantage of the fact that they are in a position to protect their lives to do so. Finally, it is suggested that specific acts and social interventions that would help in improving the lives of the populace are undertaken by political leaders. The transformation of those countries into the developed world should be the focus of leaders as this would go a long way to increase the expectancy of people.