Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Care - Read

Running head: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
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CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE1
Health and social care both play an important role in the healthcare sector. Health is a
state that comprises free from all diseases and the ability to live in a given environment
(Pleasant et al. 2016). Poor social care affects the health of an individual and ultimately
causes stress in the long term. Stress leads to continual insecurity, anxiety or poor home life
and can lead to premature death. A contemporary issue means the current trend or issues
around the surroundings. Such issues can be care of older adults, standards of hospitals,
financial funding priority, or any government influence (Barry and Yuill 2011). This essay
aims to have a clear understanding of contemporary issues influencing health and social life.
It will cover the influences of global, cultural, economic and political factors. All these
factors lead to negative aspects in health and social care that lead to health disparity, health
inequity or uneven distribution of funds in the particular sector. Each section will give a brief
overview of how these factors were changing health and social life.
Globalisation is generally referred to as an integration of culture, governance,
economic, and inter-linked environmental development (Perraton 2019). Globalisation has
created multiple issues in health and social care. People connecting globally has increased the
diseases by spreading across the continents. The major infectious diseases that are spreading
rapidly from one geographical area to others are HIV(Human immunodeficiency virus),
Ebola, SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome), west Nile and Marburg virus. These
diseases are spreading because of migration or international travel or human behaviour or any
other phenomena (Cockerham 2017). Another major issue generates from globalisation is
illegal to trade such as in drugs or any counterfeit medicines and often illegal trafficking of
people. All these are the consequences of globalisation (Cohen 2014). Additionally, it also
creates issues in solving or formulating international policy. Global governance has come
into action for delivering health care and promoting social life.
Globalisation brings many changes and it can be categorised in three-factor that are
spatial, temporal and cognitive change. Spatial change refers to people moving from one
geographical region to another. As per United Nation, around 232 million people were
migrating internationally. It is also stated that south-to-south migration is generally seen as
compared to the south to north. World tourism organisation has declared that around 1.087
billion people have arrived worldwide (Hanefeld 2015). Trafficking of people or drugs,
smuggling, these are the consequence of globalisation (Mninde-Silungwe 2017). People
move to developed countries or high-income countries lead to an increase in migration. Thus
promoting infectious disease simultaneously. Healthcare professionals moving to developed

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE2
countries for a stable income or any competitive advantage can cause issues in poorer or
developing countries. Lack of skilled healthcare professionals will have a direct impact on
society. Another factor is temporal change; it will result in the spreading of diseases. In the
era of modernisation, people are going under the pressure of multitasking. Starting from
preparing food to order deliveries or any such, it slowed down the normal lives. At this speed,
the diseases are also travelling around the world within a few spans of time. Lastly, a
cognitive change that are the result of influencing. Advertising agencies or consultancy firms
bring these changes. National health policymakers are finding difficulty in formulating and
implementing policies in their particular region as these changes have processed the thoughts
of people. Few contemporary issues generate from these changes are contemporary societies
that have their policies or ideology or forming any religious groups (Hanefeld 2015).
Culture referred to a system or group of behaviour and thought shared by a similar
group of people. It is a set of defined behaviour by customs, food, literature, rituals, ethics,
ideas, language, dress, behaviour and music (Lazzeretti and Capone 2015). Cultural factor
such as child marriage or early marriage contributes too many problems in health as well as
in social life. For illustration, restricting some food will affect their dietary preferences
(Taylor and Guerin 2019). Not every human belief on the medication the physician is
providing. If the patient do not corporate according to medication, then it will lead to a
serious complication in the treatment. Few people also do not want to accept preventive
measures such as vaccines or birth control measures. Many people from remote areas
especially female patient do not discuss their symptoms or any other factor to their physician
or any interpreter physician. Many health professionals believe that recognising cultural is
very crucial as if one fails in doing so will encounter many other issues in working practices.
Some of the diverse backgrounds of cultures are Caucasians, Asian Americans, Latinos and
Native Americans (Lupton 2012).
For better understanding for healthcare professionals, culture is categorised into two
segments that are individualistic and collectivistic. Both segments give a different view on
health and social life. Collectiveness values family or has a great impact on group values
whereas individualistic can make their own choices. Cultural factor affects judgements of
illness and health. Culture also acts as a barrier in treating a patient and not illness. Due to
cross-cultural, people have a different perception of their health preferences. For illustration,
if a particular culture or a particular group of people has good knowledge of medicinal plants.
However, it does not mean that the entire group member knows this knowledge and these