1. Variations in the health of people between DCs and LDCs.

Go to the website, http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-health-rankings.

1. Click on life expectancy from Asia and note the top 3 countries with highest life expectancy. What do you think attribute to the higher life expectancy? 

2. Click on life expectancy from Africa and note the last 3 countries with lowest life expectancy. What do you think attribute to the lower life expectancy?

3. Click on Malnutrition - note the countries with highest death rate from malnutrition. What do they have in common which accounts for the high rate of deaths from malnutrition?

4. Click on Malaria - note the countries with highest death rate from Malaria. What do they have in common which accounts for the high rate of deaths from Malaria?

5. Click on HIV/AIDs - note the countries with highest death rate from HIV/AIDs. What do they have in common which accounts for the high rate of deaths from HIV/AIDs? 

Indicators used to measure health

Infant mortality rate (IMR) - Number of infants that die before reaching the age of one year old per 1000 live births in a year. DCs have a lower IMR than LDCs because of better standards of living (SOL). Such better standards of living include access to good healthcare, clean drinking water and a hygienic environment

Life expectancy rate - Average number of years from the time of birth that a person can expect to live. DCs have a lower life expectancy than LDCs because of better standards of living (SOL)

Such better standards of living include access to nutritious food and proper hygiene and sanitation

These indicators help us to compare the state of health of people in the world.

Using a variety of indicators provides a better idea of how a population is faring over specific time periods.

http://www.prb.org/publications/datasheets/2014/2014-world-population-data-sheet/data-sheet.aspx

http://mashable.com/2014/05/19/life-expectancy-global/#F.yd_Dr8mkqO

Think of the factors accounting the variation in health of people in DCs and LDCs.

• Social – education, diet and lifestyle

• Economic – affluence/poverty, investment in healthcare and access to health services

• Environmental – living conditions, proper sanitation, access to clean water

Statistics on health and diseases http://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/

How and why does the health of people differ between DCs and LDCs?

Social factors

Diet -Lack of consumption of nutrients and poor diet can result in malnutrition in LDCs

Excessive consumption of nutrients which are eventually stored as body fats can result in obesity in DCs

Lifestyle choices -Healthy lifestyle like exercise reduces the risk of many diseases including heart diseases, diabetes and depression. 

According to WHO (World Health Organisation) in 2012, physical inactivity was responsible for 6% of the all global deaths (more prevalent in DCs than in LDCs)

Smoking is a bigger health problem in LDCs than in DCs. For example, 80% of the world’s 1 billion smokers are from LDCs

Education - People who are educated are more likely to be informed on how to lead a healthy lifestyle. Generally earn higher incomes that give them greater access to quality medical treatment, food and living conditions. 

When women are more informed of nutrition and health care, IMR tends to be lower as they are able to care and provide for their children more effectively. For example, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, between 1981 and 2005 in India, IMR among children born to mothers without formal schooling has been consistently higher than those born to mothers with education

People in DCs are more likely to stay longer in school and complete their education compared to people in the LDCs because:

a) Education is compulsory in DCs

b) DCs have more resources and more highly skilled labour to invest in education

c) More people are living in poverty in LDCs thus they are more likely to drop out of school as it is not affordable for the family, and they have to start working from a young age to supplement their household income. 30.6 million out of 60.7 million primary school-age children who were out of school worldwide in 2012 were from Sub-Saharan Africa 

Economic factors

Poverty and affluence -Poverty limits the purchasing power that people have to afford basic healthcare. People are also more likely to be exposed to health risks because of poor quality housing and insufficient nutrition

About 1.2 billion people remain below the extreme poverty line with an income of US$1.25 or less a day

About 2.4 billion people live on less than US$2 (median) a day

Poverty also exists in DCs due to the high standard of living (SOL)

Low socio-economic status (SES) brought about by poor education, lack of amenities, unemployment and job insecurity contribute to poor health

Children are more prone to nutrition-related diseases such as kwashiorkor and are also rarely given vaccination against the disease

Affluence provides people with greater access to food and better quality health services, increasing their resistance to diseases and improving their ability to deal with diseases (like adopt healthy diets and consult well-trained health care professionals)

Investment in health care and access to health services- Investment in healthcare can come from governments or private sectors (businesses or individuals)

The amount and quality of health care people can obtain depend on how accessible, available and affordable the healthcare is

Accessibility: how near or far are medical services from their homes

Availability: sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the people (enough hospitals, clinics, staff, medicine and equipment

Affordable: cost affordable to the people

• Doctor-patient ratio: number of doctors to a given population

• Patient-bed ratio: number of hospital beds to a given population

They reflect the amount of investment in health care by a country. For example, in Singapore  for every 10000 people, there are 18 doctors and 31 hospital beds. However,  in Bangladesh, for every 10000 people, there are 3 doctors and 4 hospital beds

Environmental factors - 

Living conditions

• Communities or populations that experience poor living conditions are often found in slums

• Slums are characterized by poorly secured structures, poor ventilation and overcrowding thus result in poor health and contribute to the spread of diseases.

Access to safe drinking water

•  Lack of access to safe drinking water can cause the spread of waterborne diseases like cholera

• Providing safe drinking water for a large population requires time and large investments

Proper sanitation 

• Human waste may contain harmful microorganisms that can cause diseases and be spread to a population

• Sanitation controls and manages these waste to keep harmful microorganisms from spreading in a population  

• Presence or absence of sanitation can influence the health of a population

• For example: poor sanitation may result from the dumping or leakage of sewage into water bodies and lead to the spread of waterborne diseases. 

• Number of people with access to proper sanitation has increased from 49% in 1990 to 63% in 2010.

• In 2012, more than 2.5 billion people still do not have access to proper sanitation (a greater problem in LDCs than DCs)