Introduction
Women and children are special groups of people with defined health needs. As such, this category requires special attention when it comes to their health matters (Boaz, 2002, p. 7). Some of the major factors in the maintenance and provision of healthcare to these two populations of people include the services provided by health institutions in their region and the country (Garrett, 2000, p. 34). Any country that aims to achieve the millennium development goals set in the year 2000 (Garrett, 2000, p. 34) should, therefore, focus on the provision of medical attention to women and children within their borders.
As indicated above, healthcare is tagged to the economic performance of a country. More developed nations have better healthcare for women and children (Peloso, 2002, p. 25). To make an adequate comparison of healthcare for women and children in the developing and developed world, comparisons must be made between two or more nations in these two different categories. For this essay, the two nations that I compared are the United States of America and Afghanistan.
The United States is well known and categorized among the developed nations with a very strong economy and government system (Harrington, & Estes, 2008, p. 13). It is also important to note that the country also invaded Afghanistan after the terror attacks, which are thought to have been orchestrated by the regimes operating in this nation at the time. Before the war on terrorism, Afghanistan’s economy was not performing very well (Levy, & Sidel, 1997, p. 41).
This situation has not changed even in the war period. The country is still a developing one in the Asian continent (Levy, & Sidel, 1997, p. 37). According to a survey, only 13% of mothers in Afghanistan seek medical attention during pregnancy and or deliver in a health facility or use skilled birth attendants (Afghanistan mortality survey 2010, 2011: Drug use in Afghanistan 2009, 2010: Shi, & Singh, 2005, p. 26). The above observations have special implications for nursing care, especially in the two countries.
Implications for nursing as a profession on the issues
Nursing has several implications on the issues of health for women and children in impoverished areas. As healthcare professionals, nurses are trained to be in contact with society to understand the problems affecting them. A nurse should therefore be the first person to single out some of the patients and intervene medically. The profession also guides the planning and implementation departments in the respective countries. Nurses can advise the authorities on the right measures to take. They may also be the first persons to detect a health breakdown in societies. Some of the measures that they can put in place include setting up special organizations to provide help to such people.
They could also provide free medical campaigns in the impoverished societies besides offering free medication to the inhabitants. This strategy will go a long way in mitigating the effects of poverty on the health of women and children. In a country such as Afghanistan, nursing care has to be more focused on the much-affected category of population, which mostly comprises women since there are significantly fewer qualified nurses in practice (Peloso, 2002, p. 53: Iacopino, 1998, p. 23). On the opposite side of the planet in the US, nursing care is more appropriate and enough nurses are available for the provision of essential care.
The specific issues the poverty has on health care of women and children in Afghanistan and the US
Some of the specific issues that poverty has on the healthcare of women and children in the US and Afghanistan include malnutrition and maternal mortality. In regions, which are impoverished in the US and Afghanistan, women are unable to afford food for themselves and their children (Women and poverty, n.d: National Poverty Center, 2012). They end up being malnourished. Another condition that arises because of poverty is rickets.
Malnourished children in the US and Afghanistan are predisposed to rickets and other infections. Infections are brought about by reduced immunity, which results from malnutrition. The two conditions form a vicious cycle as one leads to the other (Wood, 2003). It is also generally proven that women living below the poverty line are also likely to have birth complications (Wood, 2003).
How the problems might be addressed
Some of how the problems might be addressed include mapping the areas that are impoverished and establishing them as needing the support of the international and local administrations. In the US, for example, the government should provide subsidized food and nutritional supplementations to the population that is established to be living below the poverty line (Rector & Sheffield, 2011). Aid organizations should also be contacted to assist in the delivery of help to these people in the provision of medical care.
Since a host of medical conditions due to the inability to afford the medicines faces most of the people living in poverty, the governments should also offer free medical attention to these populations. The problem might also be addressed through international aid organizations in the case of Afghanistan where financial help is channeled to the local organizations offering help to the poor in the society (Rural poverty in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2009).
Statistics on effects of poverty on women and children’s health care
The statistics available on the effects of poverty on the health of women and children depict the magnitude of the problem. In Afghanistan, for example, the percentage expenditure of the GDP on health is only 7.4% with the total expenditure on health per capita being only 44$ in the year 2010 (Afghanistan statistics (Fact Sheet), 2010). This case may explain the life expectancy of 61 years for females and the high child mortality rate of 101 children per 1000 live births (Afghanistan statistics Fact Sheet 2010). Women and children also contribute about 78% of the expenditure in the health sector (Afghanistan statistics (Fact Sheet), 2010).
Reference List
Afghanistan statistics. (2010). Fact Sheet. Web.
National Poverty Center. (2012). Poverty in the United States (Fact Sheet). Web.
Rector, R., & Sheffield, R. (2011). Understanding poverty in the U.S. The Heritage Foundation. Web.
Rural poverty in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. (2009). Rural Poverty Portal. Web.
Women and Poverty. (n.d.). The Global Poverty Project. Web.
Wood, D. (2003). Effect of child and family poverty on child health in the United States. Pediatrics, 112(3), 707-711.