The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined health care as, “all the activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore or maintain health” (Kruk & Freedman, 2008 p. 263). Under this definition includes childhood immunization, drugs for infectious disease, education relating to sanitation and proper dietary needs, and life sustaining medical treatment. Yet, in TWN almost 10 million children under 5 years of age die yearly from manageable diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia (10 Million Children, 2008). Currently existing, low cost medications could save millions of these children. A course of antibiotics to treat pneumonia costs less than thirty cents, but is not available in poor countries (10 Million Children). People living in
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A shortage in medical staff compounds the health care crisis, because without medical professionals to distribute the available health care it is unattainable to the general public. African countries are particularly destitute in available medical professionals. Comparison tables show that Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Norway average 33-37 doctors per 10,000 people, while African countries’ average less than 1 doctor per 10,000 persons (Physicians, 2013). The discrepancy is due to several factors, chief among them being that doctors are paid more money in wealthy countries than in poor countries and will often move to an area where they are compensated better. There is also a lack of available education and funds for those wishing to become medical professionals. An article in “The Economist” by authors Bangalore and Framingham (2012, p. 4) reported that there are new alternatives to the traditional Physician. Those alternatives allow medical access to a larger number of people in undeveloped countries. One alternative was to have doctors perform only the most difficult of procedures, “leaving an army of workers to do everything else.” The results is that surgeries cost less and more people obtain health care. Another alternative is to utilize a program called “telehealth” which allows medical contact through phone services; this program is having great success in Mexico, Columbia, and Peru. …show more content…
Because poverty seems to control the availability of health care, and technology is intrinsically tied to wealth and data collection, it makes sense that those who have wealth and access to technology have better health care systems than those who are poor. In order to counteract this phenomenon, human rights principals must be evaluated and equity for all humans be put into play (Braveman, Gruskin, 2003). In an ideal society we would like to believe that we will care for our fellow man and ensure that human rights and therefore health care is an important social issue. This is not always the case. We must then evaluate if other factors would encourage us to ensure that those in poverty have available health care. One factor which must be considered is the health risk to the rest of the world when we allow other nations to go without adequate health
A shortage in medical staff compounds the health care crisis, because without medical professionals to distribute the available health care it is unattainable to the general public. African countries are particularly destitute in available medical professionals. Comparison tables show that Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Norway average 33-37 doctors per 10,000 people, while African countries’ average less than 1 doctor per 10,000 persons (Physicians, 2013). The discrepancy is due to several factors, chief among them being that doctors are paid more money in wealthy countries than in poor countries and will often move to an area where they are compensated better. There is also a lack of available education and funds for those wishing to become medical professionals. An article in “The Economist” by authors Bangalore and Framingham (2012, p. 4) reported that there are new alternatives to the traditional Physician. Those alternatives allow medical access to a larger number of people in undeveloped countries. One alternative was to have doctors perform only the most difficult of procedures, “leaving an army of workers to do everything else.” The results is that surgeries cost less and more people obtain health care. Another alternative is to utilize a program called “telehealth” which allows medical contact through phone services; this program is having great success in Mexico, Columbia, and Peru. …show more content…
Because poverty seems to control the availability of health care, and technology is intrinsically tied to wealth and data collection, it makes sense that those who have wealth and access to technology have better health care systems than those who are poor. In order to counteract this phenomenon, human rights principals must be evaluated and equity for all humans be put into play (Braveman, Gruskin, 2003). In an ideal society we would like to believe that we will care for our fellow man and ensure that human rights and therefore health care is an important social issue. This is not always the case. We must then evaluate if other factors would encourage us to ensure that those in poverty have available health care. One factor which must be considered is the health risk to the rest of the world when we allow other nations to go without adequate health