Introduction
Understanding the models and trends in the burden of diseases is crucial to solving the problems in global health. Speaking about the burden of diseases, it is needed to define its fundamental factors within different regions. To see the reasons of the most important changes in health caused by the economic development in different regions, it is necessary to look through the factors that influence healthcare.
The Burden of Disease within Countries
The healthcare system is firmly linked to the economic condition of the country. For example, in low- and middle-income countries rural people are less healthy than the urban people, and citizens of lower social status have a higher percentage of illnesses and deaths due to maternal causes. People with lower socioeconomic status also suffer more from diseases caused by smoking and alcohol (Skolnik, 2015). According to the World Health Organization reports, the health care system costs are rapidly increasing owing to population aging, increased numbers of people with chronic illnesses, and the introduction of new expensive types of curing and diagnostics into practice. The social inequality occupies a special place in the burden of disease of many countries. That is observed in such cultures as Chilean, Mexican, Turkish, American, British, and Portuguese ones, as well as cultures of the former Soviet Union (Uphoff, Pickett, Cabieses, Small, & Wright, 2013). One more thing that must be mentioned is risk factors for the health in different countries. This concept includes a lot of points that are, either way, related to the economic conditions in the country. Some of them are environmental conditions, the health of the family members, smoking, alcohol, safe water to drink, appropriate sanitation, wars and conflicts in the country (Skolnik, 2015).
Among the factors that affect the health care, urbanization takes its unique place. With the rise of the economy, more and more people move from rural areas to big cities. This problem is mostly observed in low- and middle-income countries. Urbanization influences infrastructure causing people to live in crowded small houses which are bad for the health. Also, urbanization harms water, sanitation and healthcare services (Skolnik, 2015).
Skolnik (2015) says, “The burden of disease in the future will be influenced by some factors that will continue to change.” Some of these factors are ecology, population growth, urbanization, climate change, technological and scientific changes. Today, the necessary steps to improve the healthcare, such as water, sanitation, the quality of food, and hygiene are only dreams for the low- and middle-income countries. The reason for that is the low political stability which is necessary for the improvement of healthcare. The development of the technologies and science has had the highest impact positive impact on the burden of disease so far.
Conclusion
To see the reasons of the most important changes in health caused by the economic development in different regions, it is necessary to look through the factors that influence healthcare. Though the technologies and science are rising very rapidly, there are still a lot of countries where people cannot pay for modern medicine and suffer from diseases. Economic development of the countries improves the healthcare, but still, it is far from perfect.
References
Skolnik, R. (2015). Global health 101. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Uphoff, E. P., Pickett, K. E., Cabieses, B., Small, N., & Wright, J. (2013). A systematic review of the relationships between social capital and socioeconomic inequalities in health: A contribution to understanding the psychosocial pathway of health inequalities. International Journal for Equity in Health, 12(1), 1-12.