Comparing Healthcare Practice: Philippines & Australia Development

This essay provides a comparative analysis of healthcare practices in the Philippines and Australia, highlighting the relationship between development and health. It begins with a demographic, social, and political overview of the Philippines, including its geography, language, religion, and government structure. The essay then delves into the epidemiological profile of the Philippines, noting prevalent diseases like stroke, cancer, heart attack, HIV/AIDS, and diarrhea, and linking their prevalence to factors such as economic levels and living standards. The level of development in the Philippines is discussed in terms of its economy, infrastructure, and international relations. The essay contrasts these findings with the healthcare system and health outcomes in Australia, a highly developed country, emphasizing differences in healthcare access and disease patterns due to varying levels of development and economic stability.

Running Head: Healthcare Practice 1
Healthcare Practice in Developing Countries
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Healthcare Practice in Developing Countries
Introduction
The extent of development in a country has a special connection with the level of health
in each of the sections that make up the region. Development rate comprises a number of
elements which include health facilities and amenities, road and communication networks,
trained personnel and availability of the relevant resources (Alsan, David and David, 2006. p.
442). Each of these factors is closely linked to the extent to which a country is developed. For
instance, a good network of roads and communication equipments may not be readily available
in most parts of a low or middle income country. This challenge in turn has vast effects on the
health sector since in one way or the other may hinder the society’s ability to access health
facilities. A healthy nation is a strong nation hence there is need for governments and institutions
to install the right strategies to ensure a holistic and healthy environment (Ashraf, Ashley and
David, 2008, p.25). In this paper, the level of development, epidemiological profile,
demography, social and political features of Philippines are discussed in comparison to the case
in Australia. The discussion is aimed at drawing a vivid relationship between the level of
development and the aspect of health in a given country.
Phillipines
Demographic Profile
The Phillipines which is also referred to as the Republic of Phillipines is a country which
is situated in the western Pacific Ocean. The country is unitary state made up of over 7,000
islands. The Islands which are spread in different parts of the water body basically describe the
country’s landscape. In addition, a good portion of the country is made up of mountains which

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explain why most of its parts are prone to earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons as well as other
forms of storms. The country is categorized into three major divisions marking its boundaries.
These include; Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao (Bloom and David, 2004, p. 38). The country’s
capital is Manilla although Quezon City serves as the most populous one. The country is
bounded by the South Chine and the Phillipines Sea. The country’s borders are shared with
Malaysia to the south, Palau to the east, Vietnam to the west and Taiwan to the north. Due to the
relatively similar levels of growth in each of these countries, Phillipines has enjoyed peace with
no cases of illegal migrations which in most cases leads to introduction and spread of diseases.
The country majorly uses Filipino as its language while Spanish and Arabic serve as the
auxiliary languages. The dominant religion in the Phillipines is Christianity. About 92% of the
country’s total populations are Christians while 5.57% are Muslims. Other religions take up the
remaining small percentage (Mathers and Dejan, 2005, p.66). According to the 2017 census, the
country’s total population could be estimated at 100,900, 400. It sits on an area of 343,448km2.
While most of the people are concentrated in the urban centers, the country’s population spreads
uniformly across all the portions of the land.
Social cultural and Political Features
The Phillipines is a unitary state led by a single president. It is a democratic government.
The president is not only the head of state but also serves as the head of government. The
country’s election method especially for the president involves voting. Below the President does
a bicameral congress comprise the Senate which serves as the upper house and the House of
Representatives which serves as the lower house (Nixon and Philippe, 2006, p.45). While the
Senators are elected at large and serve through a six-year term, the House of Representatives are
elected through sectoral representation and districts of legislation. In a nut shell, the country’s

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top leaders are; the president, the vice president, senate president, house speaker as well as the
chief justice. The country has enjoyed a relatively stable political environment since
independence. This could be confirmed by the peaceful elections which have been experienced
over the past periods. The country’s political leadership has remained stable with each member
charged with the core responsibility of enhancing development in the specific areas of operation.
In line with the country’s socio-cultural features, it is a fact worth noting that its cultural
activities exhibit a combination of both the eastern and American influence. Having been
colonized by Spain, a number of aspects are punctuated by Spanish values for instance the
prevalent number of Spanish names and even the use of Spanish as an auxiliary language is a
sure show of this influence. However, the country’s culture is dominated by Asian cultures as
exhibited in most of the Asian countries surrounding it. There are traditional festivities for
instance the district festivals done periodically and used to celebrate the country’s rich culture.
During these festivals, there is music, dance and feasting. Other festivities include; Sinulog,
Moriones and Ati-Atihan. Despite the society’s huge effort to conserve these cultures, research
indicates that some of these values are fading with increase in modernization (Shibuya, 2005, p.
25). The popular use of English as a language in the Phillipines is a clear indication of American
influence on the country’s culture. This has given room for the ready acceptance of American
values in the country which could be confirmed by the country’s love for American music, foods
and movies. Many fast-food joints have been established in the major cities which serve
American foods showing just how much the populace loves them.

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Epidemiological Profile
The Phillipines is a fast developing middle income country. In line with this, the
country’s level of development does not give enough room for access to major health care
facilities. This has become a challenge especially in the country’s rural areas which have poor
road and communication networks in addition to minimal facilities. According to the statistics
released by the World Health Organization, the leading cause of death in most countries is
cardiovascular diseases (Blössner, 2005). The disease is said to cause averagely 17.5 million
deaths annually. This number is however reducing with the improvement of healthcare services
as a result of development. However in developing countries like the Phillipines, the leading
cause of deaths is stroke. Cancer is another disease in the list of prevalent diseases in Phillipines
which indicates that a good number of people die due to cancer related diseases. Heart attack is
another common disease among the Filipinos with the problem experienced mainly among the
high income earners in the country. The well to do families is closely associated with heart attack
among other cardiovascular diseases (Dargay, 2007). The outcome of the consultancy
organization research indicates that 1 out of 4 individuals in the society are hypertensive and
obese while in a population of 20, one individual is likely to have high fasting blood sugar.
Other diseases include respiratory inflammation which is prevalent especially in the less
populous regions in the country like Ilocos and Davao regions. There is an incredible number of
HIV/AIDS cases which is prevalent in basically most of the regions in the country but quite
dominant in the highly populated areas like Calabarzon, National Capital Region, Central
Lusayas and Central Luzon. There is also the challenge of diarrhea which is common in most of
the rural set ups. This problem could be associated with low living standards which culminate in
low level of hygiene and poor feeding habits. There is also the issue of road injuries experienced

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in the country’s major urban centers and the cities in the three main regions namely Visayas,
Luzon and Mindanao (Deaton and Christina, 2000).
Level of Development
The Phillipines can be categorized as a developing country with an economy which is
ranked as 34th largest in the world. The country’s gross domestic product as at 2017 was $348
billion. Its economy is driven both by agricultural products as well as the various industries
cropping up in most parts of the urban dwellings. The Phillipines does not only export transport
equipments and semiconductors but is also a leading exporter of electronic products, copper,
garments, fruits, and coconut oil as well as petroleum products. The country has good
international relations which has made it have a firm grip on international partners like
Singapore, China, South Korea, and Germany, Netherlands and the United States just to mention
but few. The country’s continued development could be attributed to the much emphasis given to
service and manufacturing industries. This detail can be confirmed by the country’s labor force
which can be estimated at 40.8 million. The agricultural sector also offers enough cushion to the
country’s development strategies and has offered employment to over 30% of the country’s labor
force. The Phillipines has a fairly good network of roads which is however more concentrated on
the urban centers. The roads are mainly aimed at enhancing accessibility of the industries and
easy transport of workers and raw materials to the service points. Other forms of transport like
railway, air and water transport complete the country’s infrastructural development level (Desai,
2004). The communication systems are also good with the presence of competent service
providers in addition to the available devices. The facilities and building are majorly dominant in
urban areas with the rural set ups kind of neglected.

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Population Groups and Disease Prevalence
As pointed out in the country’s epidemiological profile, it can be deduced that different
regions suffer from different diseases. This variation could be attributed to differences in the
nature of the environment, economic levels, feeding patterns as well as living standards. To
begin with, there are high end diseases like diabetes, stroke, heart attack and Ischaemic Heart
disease (De Borja, M, 2005, p. 34). The diseases are common among wealthy individuals who
live in urban centers like the country’s capital and its suburbs. The high earning individuals in
the society are projected to be the ones mostly affected by the cardiovascular diseases. This
aspect could be associated with the poor and uncontrolled feeding habits due to proper
accessibility to food and other resources. Cases of cardiovascular diseases noted in the less
populated areas like the Zamboanga Peninsula could be majorly associated with hereditary
factors (Fernández-Villaverde and Dirk, 2004).
The Calabarzon area which is one of the regions in the country with the highest
population is the very region characterized by prevalent diseases like HIV/AIDS, diarrhea as
well as inflammatory illnesses. The high population in this region has led to congestion and
hence an increase in the level of contact between people. The case is worse especially in the less
developed areas with poor housing, drainage, bad roads and less healthcare facilities. This does
not only allow the outbreak of diseases but leads to its spread which culminates in devastating
effects within the population. Diarrhea and HIV could be categorized as the most common
diseases among the poor in the society (Gakidou et al.,2007, p.34). Other diseases like
hypertensive and stoke have been found to be common mostly among the high class individuals
in the Phillipines. The trend indicates the presences of specific diseases within given population

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groups; a phenomenon which could be attributed to a number of factors ranging from the level of
income to individual living standards.
Comparison of Illness Patterns in Phillipines with the case in Australia
While the Phillipines is a developing country, Australia is a highly developed country
with a stable economy and good population control measures. The later is considered a wealthier
nation in comparison to the Phillipines. Due to the economic level in Australia, it follows that the
country has put in place effective strategies especially in the healthcare fraternity in a bid to
enhance sound health and holistic living among the citizens. The highly sophisticated health
facilities distributed among major regions in Australia enhances accessibility to healthcare which
in turn influences the trend in disease patterns (Hughes and Hillebrand, 2006, p. 8).
To begin with, the trend indicates hypertensive as a leading cause of deaths in the
Phillipines, however in Australia; this disease is among the last ones in the list of prevalent
diseases in the country. In addition, diabetes is considered a common disease among the
Filipinos with one in every four individuals likely to be diabetic. On the other hand in Australia,
diabetes makes only about 4% of death causes in the country (Hughes, Randall Kuhn and Jose,
2011, p.45). Furthermore, there is the issue of road injuries caused by accidents occurring along
major roads in the Phillipines while in Australia, cases of road injuries and accidents are very
rare occurrence thanks to the stringent measures and proper infrastructure. While diarrhea is a
common problem among the populace in the Phillipines, none of such cases are recorded in the
list of diseases affecting the Australians. Ishchaemic heart disease, stroke and lower respiratory
infections however remain leading causes of death in both the countries. The studies also

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indicate the prevalence of these diseases among the high class individuals in the society which is
also a common aspect in both cases (Julian, 2003, p. 7).
Relationship between health and development
The discussion above reveals a clear link between the level of development and health in
a country. The studies generally reveal that in a developed country, there are minimal cases of
diseases especially those that could be associated with lack of facilities, food and poor
infrastructure. This therefore implies that in a developed country, the facilities are well in place
hence the members of the population can easily access the healthcare services. For instance, the
perfect network of roads and communication systems both in the rural and urban set ups in
Australia has increased accessibility to healthcare services. This explains why there are lower
cases of diseases such as diabetes, diarrhea and hypertensive reported among the people. At the
same time, high income countries tend to put in place the right measure to ensure that the citizens
are adequately exposed and educated on the causes and prevention of diseases. The increase in
awareness encourages people to embrace healthy living standards which may include proper
nutrition, observation of proper hygiene and safety measures especially in the case of contagious
diseases. A highly developed country like Australia equally has a stable economy hence the
ability to import healthcare facilities from other countries. The resources also allow the country
to buy and distributed medicine to the people. Each of these measures generally lead to a healthy
environment. On the other hand, low level of development hinders the society’s accessibility to
basic healthcare facilities which in turn increases the prevalence of diseases. Low development
implies poor road networks, less amenities and few competent medical personnel in addition to
little awareness among the people. This leads to a high prevalence of diseases.

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Conclusion
A society that is healthy is one that is happy and highly productive. Good health is majorly
achieved when the members of the society have proper access to the healthcare facilties. The
study above indicates that high level of development is directly proportional to health in any
given country. The discussion compared the case in Phillipines to that in Australia. From these
explanations, it can be deduced that there are disease which are more prevalent in the Phillipines
and not in Australia due to the high level of development in the later country. This argument
therefore indicates a direct link between the level of development in Australia and its health
sector. At the same time, the Phillipines being a developing country still has major loophole
which may need to be addressed with time in a bid to reduce the death rates. These measures
may include improvement of infrastructure and increase in awareness about diseases through
proper education and exposure campaigns.

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