Healthcare is now moving from the category of factors that determine the well-being of each person to the type of conditions necessary for the full successful development of the state. There are central health concerns in developed countries, such as healthcare system expenditure, whereas, in underdeveloped nations, they include mortality and infections; there are main political, economic, and other factors that influence the situation. The essay will discuss different health issues in advanced and emerging countries and factors that contribute to global health disparities.
The driving force of developed countries is the desire for economic efficiency and quality. The number of hospital beds is decreasing, their use is becoming more intensive, and the average length of hospital stay is decreasing (Frogner, Frech, & Parente, 2015). The opinion about the advantages of large hospitals is becoming outdated. Issues of economic efficiency are also addressed by new units of measurement, such as payment for a separate basic medical service (Frogner et al., 2015).
In comparison, around ten million people in underdeveloped countries suffer and die from diseases that can be prevented or treated quickly, including malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis (Wiblin, 2016). It is possible to note that developed countries discuss the prevention of diseases, research chronic illnesses, using technologies, and consider moral issues of arising in the healthcare industry (Barreto, 2017). In contrast, developing countries focus on malnutrition, life expectancy at birth, and infections (Barreto, 2017). In developed countries, the concern is the efficiency and quality, as it was mentioned previously.
The economies’ differences in developed and developing countries are now growing into a gap between the poor and the poorest countries on the one hand, and the rich and the richest, on the other. In the least developed countries, the situation is particularly dire because they have the highest concentration of disease dissemination and dangerous environmental conditions (“Global Sustainable Development Report,” 2019). However, there is evidence that developed countries face an issue of “flat-of-the-curve medicine” when intensive health interventions have a low impact on a person’s recovery (Bloom, Kuhn, & Prettner, 2018). Thus, both advanced and emerging countries suffer from inequality distribution of the healthcare system.
The political situation in states across the world may also influence global health disparities. Some researchers state that shifts in social and political situation within the country have an impact on healthcare system and the condition’s population of the country experience related to health (Barreto, 2017, p. 2103). It is also mentioned that the massive flow of refugees from different countries due to geopolitical changes and current wars showed differences in healthcare systems of developed and underdeveloped nations (Barreto, 2017). Therefore, political factor can play a significant part in health disparities.
It is suggested that resource availability and consumption led to health disparities because countries that had more resources got an opportunity to gain financial resources to spend on healthcare (Marimuthu & Paulose, 2016). Nevertheless, the mining of minerals resulted in environmental issues that influenced populations’ health. Nowadays, advanced and emerging economies are trying to establish sustainability practices to address possible side effects (Marimuthu & Paulose, 2016). Thus, natural resources have also contributed to differences in conditions provided within the healthcare systems.
To conclude, one can state that citizens of developed and emerging countries have different health issues that they deal with. It is evident that in current conditions, the role of developing countries in global healthcare development is increasing and might influence advanced countries. Therefore, countries need to contribute to equal standards and norms in the healthcare industry to prevent disease distribution and enhance the quality of life of people.
References
Barreto, M. L. (2017). Health inequalities: A global perspective. Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva, 22(7), 2097–2108. Web.
Bloom, D., Kuhn, M., & Prettner, K. (2018). Health and economic growth.
Frogner, B., Frech, H., & Parente, S. (2015). Comparing efficiency of health systems across industrialized countries: A panel analysis. BMC Health Services Research, 15(415). Web.
Global sustainable development report 2019: The future is now – science for achieving sustainable development. The United Nations.
Marimuthu, M. & Paulose, H. (2015). Emergence of sustainability based approaches in healthcare: Expanding research and practice. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 224, 554–561. Web.
Wiblin, R. (2016). Health in poor countries.