3.2.4.3- Health

Global Health- Population and Environment

health definition

state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not just absence o disease or infirmity

mortality rate definition

rate of deaths per 1000 of population

morbidity rate definition

those living with illness per 1000 of population

amenable mortality definition

measure of access to healthcare as it shows treatable diseases causing unnecessary deaths across many LICs

deaths that could’ve been prevented with treatment which exists but they don’t have access to

global trends for life expectancy and why

• HICs have higher life expectancies

  • access to healthcare systems

  • good agriculture so able to have sufficient food

  • peace; no conflict and stable government

  • access to clean water

  • good infrastructure and QoL; heating etc

• LICs have poor life expectancy

  • poor political stability

  • poor access to healthcare and medicines

  • war

  • less education

  • low QoL due to poor housing, water access etc

  • malaria

  • climate; may be more prone to drought or flooding etc

• rural areas also have lower life expectancy

  • further away from healthcare and hospitals if needed

  • also in general less clean water, access to things etc

tiers of healthcare

• primary= first aid

• secondary= bit more

• tertiary= advanced technology e.g. cancer treatments

% of people in Botswana suffering from HIV/AIDS

75%

main causes of death in LICs

• communicable diseases; less able to diagnose and stop the spread of these diseases

• respiratory diseases e.g. COPD, pneumonia; mainly in developing countries that are industrialising due to bad air quality

• diarrheal diseases- lack of healthcare systems and bad quality water and food

• overall are diseases that kill people younger and are unable to be diagnosed or treated, leading to their continued widespreadness

main causes of death in HICs

• cancer; get it from wealthier diets, have the technology to treat but doesn’t always work

• cardiac diseases e.g. coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke- because of the more fat and sugar heavy diet found in HICs because of ultra-processed foods and lack of exercise

• degenerative conditions e.g. Alzheimers- people are living longer and therefore are dying from old age rather than from diseases that are being passed around and spread

• therefore caused by overconsumption and longer life spans

why is Africa the continent with the lowest cancer mortality

• don’t have the healthcare system to diagnose

• dying from other diseases before cancer

why do Australia/NZ have higher cancer incidence rates but lower mortality

• have the lifestyles that cause some types of cancer therefore found more

• more technology and education about cancer so therefore more people are able to be diagnosed and diagnosed early

• have the technology and investment to treat the cancer so less people are dying from it

causes of low healthcare access

• brain drain; e.g. India has low access to healthcare because they move to HICs to get more money

• low GDP and money; means less people are educated and therefore less doctors and therefore less healthcare

• political and governance problems; means that are not able to invest as well into healthcare

• rural communities; more rural means less access to healthcare as further away from hospitals etc

infant mortality rate definition

deaths of children from 0-5 per 1000 per year

maternal mortality rate definition

deaths of mothers during childbirth per 1000 per year

how does IMR and MMR vary based on economy

• HICs have lower IMR and MMR as they have cleaner health facilities, more health facilities, more specialist doctors able to help with births and therefore less deaths

• LICs much lower, especially in Africa and Southern Asia as they have less access to healthcare

CS- Afghanistan; factors why it has the worst MMR rate in the world

• high adolescent fertility rate; means younger people having children whose bodies are not able to handle birth as well

  • part of culture; many 15-19 year olds giving birth

• less women have access to education and literacy rates lower so women more likely to have children as no jobs and less education about health and pregnancy

• Taliban takeover in 2021; lots of international funding gone (NGOs left) so over 400 medical centres shut

• large rural population and large % live far from hospitals

• had transport and infrastructure so unable to access medical care

• banned women from going into health professions; women only allowed to be treated by women so don’t have the midwives to be able to do this, have less doctors in general and overall more women unable to be treated

factors of the physical environment that impact health

• air quality

• water quality

• weather

• spread of disease

how air quality can impact health in Stratford

• smoking; second-hand smoking

• traffic; lots of cars producing fumes makes the quality of air lower

• lots of construction adding pollution

• also noise pollution

how does the physical environment impact mental health in Stratford

• SAD- winter weather and darkness cause more depression

• lots of construction and grey buildings

how does disease spread in urban areas e.g. Stratford

• high population density

• transport hub and shopping means lots of people from lots of different places in one place so more likely to spread communicable diseases

how does water quality in Stratford impact health

• river Lea has some pollution from surface runoff

• historically high levels of water pollution and algae bloom

how does climate link to disease; with named examples

• depression caused by reduced hours of sunlight

• SAD; 14% in Oslo and 1.4% in Florida

how does topography link to disease; with named examples

• flooding in low-lying areas

• annual flooding in Bangladesh

• causes spread of infection from contaminated water (cholera) and stagnant water ideal for mosquitoes

how does air quality link to disease with named examples

• respiratory related diseases e.g. asthma, COPD and lung cancer

• e.g. New Delhi; more cases of lung cancer because of air pollution; 5-% increase from 1988-2912

  • increasing in people of younger ages

  • going outside equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes per day

  • 90% people across the world breathing polluted air (WHO)

  • 1m people dying prematurely each year

• London= Ella Kissi-Debrah was the first person in the UK to have cause of death on death certificate as air pollution; in Lewisham and highlights that air pollution can lead to premature death; died aged 9

how does water quality link to disease with named examples

• diarrheal diseases such as cholera from untreated water

• 50 countries worldwide still report cholera outbreaks each year

• 15k cases in Ethiopia in 2020