scs module 1

What is Health?

  • A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity 


Global Health Disparities:

  • Within rich nations, the gap between rich and poor can be great

  • There are nations within nations (indigenous people)

  • In almost every nation, women’s and men’s health are approached differently

    • Most research is done on men and women's issues are not prioritized


Wealth Disparities:

  • Largely due to the following 8 points;

  1. Conversion to cash crop agriculture

  2. History of colonialism

  3. Brain drain

  4. Debt

  5. Exploitation of natural resources

  6. Redrawn borders (national insecurity)

  7. Military overspending

  8. Political corruption 


Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYS):

  • Created in 1990

  • DALY = YLL + YLD

    • YLL = years of life lost in the population due to death from a specific health concern

      • Leading cause = ischaemic heart disease

    • YLD = years of productive life lost due to a disability, rather than death

      • Leading cause = neonatal disorders 


Demographic Transition:

  • Idea developed by Warren Thompson in 1929

  • Defined in 4 stages;

  1. Stage 1

  • Pre-industrial society

  • Death rates and birth rates are high and roughly in balance they fluctuate according to natural phenomena 

  • Population is relatively young 

  1. Stage 2

  • Death rates drop rapidly due to improvements in food supply and sanitation 

  • Birth rate still remains high with increased survival of children

  • Increase in life spans and reduce disease 

  1. Stage 3

  • Birth rates fall due to a variety of social factors 

  • Increased urbanization, female literacy, education, and contraception practices 

  1. Stage 4

  • “Post-transition” stage

  • Both low birth rates and low death rates 


Abdel Omran:

  • Historian who considers the history of human disease to have occurred in 3 phases;

  1. Age of Pestilence and Famine

  2. Age of Receding Pandemics

  3. Age of Degenerative and Man Made Diseases


MDgs:

  • In September 2000, representatives of 189 countries agreed the binding outcome of the Millennium Declaration

  • A UN group later supplemented the Declaration by devising a set of 8 goals, although widely accepted and endorsed, the targets were non-binding on UN member states 

  • Became a guidepost for almost all high level development funding

  • MDGs include;

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

  2. Achieve universal primary education

  3. Promote gender equality and empower women

  4. Reduce child mortality

  5. Improve maternal health

  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

  7. Ensure environmental sustainability

  8. Develop a global partnership for development

  • Too narrow and prevented donors from funding determinants 


SDGs:

  • Set of 17 goals for the world's future through 2030

  • Backed up by a set of 169 detailed targets

  • Negotiated over a 2 year period at the UN and agreed to by nearly all the world's nations on 25 Sept, 2015

  • Not about aid, but about agreements between governments about what they want to achieve for their people

  • Allow for more flexibility in funding