Issues impacting health and development, Biology

Assignment Help:

Issues Impacting Health and Development

Poverty and malnutrition are the leading causes of high maternal and child mortality rates in developing countries. Together, they seriously impair the resistance of the body to infections. In children, malnutrition impacts their learning ability besides leading to high dropouts from schools. This reduces the returns to investment in education. The average real rate of social return on primary schooling in low income countries was estimated at 24 per cent (World Bank, 1981). If improved health status can be ensured through proper nutritional and health care, the rate of return on education can be improved. Better health implies that less resources are required to be devoted for curative health care. Resources thus spared can be spent for other productive purposes. Realising the severity of the problem, the millennium development goals (MDGs) of the UN included three goals to be targeted for achievement by 2015 in the health sector. These are

(i) reduction of under five child mortality by two-thirds;

(ii) improvement in maternal health by achieving reduction in maternal mortality rate by three-quarters;

(iii) combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS and other diseases by reducing their incidence by one-half reversing the spread of such major diseases.
To achieve the above goals, massive funding and policy initiatives are required. Such initiatives, besides focusing on  improvement in consumption/nutritional levels, can be centred around the major diseases. Tuberculosis and Malaria are identified to be among the major diseases contributing to adult mortality. Acute respiratory infections is identified to be a major child killer. These diseases are known to hurt rural people more than city dwellers suggesting that the focus of policy initiatives should centre more on the rural population. Some simple measures/provisions identified to prevent the mortality arising from these diseases are: bed-nets, affordable antibiotics, trained birth attendants and spreading awareness on basic hygiene.
However, due to the large magnitude of the problem, the resources required to implement even such simple measures are huge. Along with the issue of  limited resources, two other issues confronting the task of effective health delivery are
inequity and  inefficiency. While the former refers to the problem of the rural health systems not having enough staff and resources dedicated to women and children, the latter refers to the anomaly on account of non-integration of vertical
programmes for specific diseases with the general health systems. All these concerns have received wide attention everywhere and specific suggestions have been made to tackle these problems.


Related Discussions:- Issues impacting health and development

Description and measurement of circadian rhythms, The description and measu...

The description and measurement of circadian rhythms. Describe the standard method used for the recording and graphing of behavioral rhythms in animals, especially the use of

Nucleic acids, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) - polymer of nucleotides contai...

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) - polymer of nucleotides containing genetic information that codes for proteins Nucleotide - a monomer of DNA consisting of a ribose/deoxyribose sug

What electrocardiogram results show a shortened qt interval, Electrocardiog...

Electrocardiogram results show a shortened QT interval and an increase in the P-R interval (i.e., decreased duration of action potential and decreased conduction velocity). Laborat

Lens - organogenesis of eye and limb, Lens - Organogenesis of Eye and Limb ...

Lens - Organogenesis of Eye and Limb There is much experimental proof that the lens formation in many species is dependent on the induction by the optic vesicle while it conta

Determine the sucrose content in a sample of honey, Q. Determine the sucros...

Q. Determine the sucrose content in a sample of honey? This activity will help you to: • estimate the non-reducing sugars and total sugars in a sample of honey, • check t

What is an evolutionary explanatory hypothesis, Q. What is an evolutionary ...

Q. What is an evolutionary explanatory hypothesis for the secretion by the heart of a hormone that regulates the renal function? Which is that hormone? The renal regulator horm

Physiology, what happens to your total peripheral resistance when you go fr...

what happens to your total peripheral resistance when you go from a warm room to cool outside air

How are living beings divided into two groups, According to cellular organi...

According to cellular organization how are living beings divided into two groups? Cellular beings are separated into two groups: the prokaryotes, unicellular beings whose sole

Tissue Cells, How is an Epithelial cell made?

How is an Epithelial cell made?

Parasite and host during incubation period, Parasite and host during incuba...

Parasite and host during incubation period Incubation period is the second stage in the process of a disease. It is the time between the day of infection to the appearanc

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd