Healthcare Challenges: Social, Political & Environmental Factors

This report provides an overview of social, political, and environmental issues in international healthcare, focusing on the UK context and global challenges. It addresses population health, the role of the NHS, and the impact of diseases like heart disease, cancer, and respiratory illnesses. The report ex...Read More

Social, Political & Environmental
Issues in International Healthcare

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Healthcare is defined to be a provision of essential medical services which are provided
to people so that they are able to live a healthy lifestyle. The services in healthcare are majorly
offered through a formal healthcare system comprising of physicians and specialists (Epstein and
Buhovac, 2014). The healthcare system at the international level is facing issues in context of
political, economic and environmental which needs to be addressed so that people are able to
maintain their ideal lifestyle.
TASK
Population health is defined as the outcomes of people in terms of health. These are the
efforts aimed to improve the condition of health of people. When it comes to considering the
status of health of a country it is a major concept. The consideration to the health of population
of a country requires a separate domain and abundance of investments in the sector. The
government of UK have established various agencies to cater the medical and healthcare needs
of people. The national health service requires a major revamp in order to match healthcare
requirement of the nation.
In context of UK, fragmented healthcare system is not able to keep up with requirements
of people therefore it is essential to integrate NHS and social care system to extend their services
to local people residing in the nation. The World Health organisation on every 7th April avails
change to make people aware about certain diseases whose symptoms are often ignored. The
data released shortlisted 5 major diseases which are of major concern to the people of Great
Britain that are:
Heart and circulatory diseases: This is the most common disease which causes
premature death in the country. The last reported data states that over 160,000 people lost their
lives due to heart and circulatory diseases.
Cancer: It is another major health issue in the country. Around 2.5 people in the country
are diagnosed with cancer. The treatment for cancer is comparatively expensive.
Respiratory diseases: The major two diseases which covers respiratory diseases are
asthma and COPD. The 5.4 million people in the country find it difficult to breathe which is
highest in the world (Top Health Issues Affecting the British Public, 2016).
Liver diseases: The scope of liver diseases is expanding on a rapid scale. It is third
biggest cause of causing deaths in the year.
1

Stroke: It another leading cause of death of approximately 110,00 people in the year.
Stroke happen when there is reduction of supply of blood to the brain which results in dying of
brain cells.
The major determinant of Health of an individual are as follows:
Physical health: Physical health is considered to be a major determinant of well being
but that encompasses only one portion of the same. There are five determinant of well-being
which are crucial in maintaining a well-being of an individual (Gray, Coates and Hetherington,
2012). Physical efforts are one of the best way to enhance quality of health of a person. Physical
activity lowers the risk of above mentioned diseases. Not only physical fitness it can also tout
energy and better mood.
Emotional health: Emotional aspect of is another determinant of well-being of an
individual. It takes into consideration the ability of an individual to deal with stress and feelings.
Right amount of efforts are required to maintain emotional well-being of a person.
Spiritual Health: Spiritual well-being takes into account the activities such as prayer,
meditation and worship. The main reason they are carried out is that they facilitate inner peace
which constitute as important component well-being of an individual.
Social Health: Relationship are an important part of being well being. The ability of a
person to create and maintain healthy and supportive relations reduce chances of a person falling
ill. Socially isolated individuals are prone to diseases.
Financial Health: Financial stability is really important when it comes to fulfilment of
goals and objectives established by an individual. Financially secure person is stress free which
carries a direct impact on the well-being of a individual.
All these above mentioned determinant carry the ability to influence health of the
population. It is not necessary that an individual will carry similar amount of well-being in all the
sectors as it can vary. But alternation in one determinant will influence others and
simultaneously affecting the health of an individual (Duckett and Willcox, 2015). The goal
setting approach is a crucial manner through which overall health of a person can be enriched.
United nation is an international organisation comprising of 193 member nations. The
UN focuses on the principles contained in his charter. The main issues which are currently faced
by humanity are climate change, peace, security, well-being and food production. In this
assignment the emphasis will be on the issues conforming with the health and well-being of
2

human beings. The United Nation have established sustainable goals documented in
“Transforming the world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development”. Referring to the
sustainable development knowledge platform Goal 3 of sustainable development aims to ensure
that every individual is able to live a healthy lifestyle irrespective of the age. It has been part of
development measures initiated by this institution. The reason behind the same is that every
human being is entitled to have a healthy and arable life. This institution have started working on
well-being fronts since 2000 and have garnered tremendous results (Blaikie and et al., 2014). By
2030, UN aims to reduce maternal mortality rate, end epidemics and ensuring that human are
able to live a healthy lifestyle.
(Source: Sustainable development goals, 2015)
The sustainable development aims to address the issues which are faced by the system of
healthcare at a national level. The biggest health care problem which lies at the global level is
that there are 59.5 million refugees in the world and their movement disrupt the health care
system of the country. In context of the nation there are approximately 118,995 refugees in
3
Illustration 1: Sustainable development goals

United Kingdom. In addition to the refugees the widening wealth gap between the two make it
difficult for them to avail quality healthcare services. In response to such circumstances United
Nations aims to support the nation financially so that it is able to provide healthcare services to
economically poor section.
Change in politics and power carry a substantial impact on the working of healthcare
systems. The change in people in power may cause shift in the priority and investment pattern of
the country (Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012). The current prime minister have adopted
sustainable development goals established by the government. The government have encouraged
private investment so to maximise revenue of the government which will be later spent on the
welfare of the people. It is said that in order to adopt sustainable means it is essential to increase
expenditure on concerned areas from billions to trillions. To ensure the same government have to
adopt capitalist approach.
Alteration in the climate is another factor which has been causing health issues to the
residents in the country. The climate change act of 2008 have been strictly considered and
implied on to people who consider unethical practices and harm the environment. The efforts of
the same are to reduce greenhouse emissions by 80% till 2050. there are people in the country
which are not provided with essential healthcare services must be brought under coverage mainly
to disadvantaged population. There is a emerging and warning health threats due to rise of
diseases such as Zika virus and Ebola along with stagnant diseases such as strokes and cancer
pose a threat to the humanity. The SDGS aims to end these epidemic diseases and combat them
in the best possible manner so that they are extinct by the year 2030. The government of UK
have prioritized health segment and aiming to address the problems existent in the country.
The National healthcare segment even after providing a ideal protection from diseases
from the diseases along with quality services offerings (Eide and Ingstad, 2017). But due to lack
of awareness and education it is seen that extremely low population avail such protection this has
been become a major issue in the society the recent data stated that 0.8% of the total population
posses a insurance against diseases. It has become a threat as most of the population will not be
able to avail expensive private health care services. So it is one of the objectives of sustainable
healthcare development to make sure that maximum population is covered under health
insurance and public health system. The goals established will be reviewed by the end of the year
so that it can be altered and changes can be recorded (Checker, 2011).
4

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that National healthcare services are not in a
very ideal position and major diseases are experiencing a increase in the economy. The United
kingdom is prone to diseases which put the humanity of country under threat. United Nations is
an organisation which have formed sustainable development goals which aims to resolve
problems in health and well-being domain. The sustainability goals were adopted in the year
2015 which considers 17 goals which it aims to achieve by the year 2030. it is applicable to all
the countries be it emerging or developed. It provides measures through existing problems can be
resolved and better lifestyle can be provided to residents of the country.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Epstein, M. J. and Buhovac, A. R., 2014. Making sustainability work: Best practices in
managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts.
Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Gray, M., Coates, J. and Hetherington, T. eds., 2012. Environmental social work. Routledge.
Duckett, S. and Willcox, S., 2015. The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford
University Press.
Subramanian, N. and Ramanathan, R., 2012. A review of applications of Analytic Hierarchy
Process in operations management. International Journal of Production Economics.
138(2), pp.215-241.
Eide, A. and Ingstad, B., 2017. Disability and poverty: A global challenge. Policy Press.
Checker, M., 2011. Wiped out by the “greenwave”: Environmental gentrification and the
paradoxical politics of urban sustainability. City & Society. 23(2), pp.210-229.
Blaikie, P. and et al., 2014. At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters.
Routledge.
Online
Top Health Issues Affecting the British Public. 2016. [Online]. Available
through:<https://hmthospitals.org/top-health-issues-affecting-the-british-public/>.
6