Global Health & Sustainable Development †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Questions: 1. Describe the role nation states have in global health. What are the strengths and weaknesses of nation states as actors in global health? 2. Rank the SDGs in terms of their potential to improve global health. Justifiy your answers. How useful do you think the SDGs are as goals to improve global health? Answers: 1. The role of nation states in global health is a multi-faceted issue. First world nations like United Kingdom, USA, Australia, Denmark have made enormous contributions to global health through donor programs like DANIDA, USAID, AUSAid; or by making financial contributions to international aid agencies like UNICEF, UNHCR. Less developed nations like Bangladesh support their public health endeavours with money from taxpayers alongside substantial contributions from international aid agencies, foundations like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and International NGOs like WaterAid Bangladesh. Dependence on foreign aid continues to be a feature of all public health initiatives in a country like Bangladesh where public health challenges can range anywhere between Rohingya refugee crisis in south east Bangladesh to the recent Chikungunya outbreak in urban populations. As seen in Szlezak et al. (2010), there are 500 partners which are operating together to eradicate malaria from the world via the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership. This elevated level of involvement is encouraging, however Szlezak et al. (2010), suggests that, although World Health Organization hosts the RBM partnership, WHO does not contribute as a central, authoritative body. The efforts of the nation states would be better coordinated and have better outcomes if WHO has a more central role in leading the global communitys efforts to improve health according to Szlezak et al.(2010). This would also enable nation states to focus on less funded health avenues like non-communicable diseases. A lot of work is done in fields of communicable disease, however non-communicable diseases in less developed countries are not receiving as much attention (Beaglehole R, Ebrahim S, Reddy S, 2007 p. 21522157). The main strength of nation states in global health is their ability to exert their resources and expertise over any public health challenge of their choosing. The United States plans to help Bangladesh through USAID in areas of maternal and child health, education and social services among other projects (USAID, 2017). USAIDs ongoing financial help during the Rohingya refugee crisis has been equally helpful. However, there is very little in the way of planning or fund raising when it comes to providing aid for the increasing number of diabetic patients in Bangladesh. The prevalence of Diabetes in Bangladesh has risen steadily over the years. In 2000 the number of diabetic patients was more than 3 million which is projected to become more than 11 million by the year 2030 (World Health Organization, 2018). A weakness of nation states in upholding global health has been their partial inability to work alongside or under the supervision of World Health Organization and explore the scope of analysing and implementing health strategies against non-communicable diseases like diabetes. 2. Sustainable Development Goal Number 2 is my first pick which aims to end world hunger by 2030. Till 2016, 65.6 million people have become forcibly displaced around the world (UNHCR, 2018, para. 1). The plight of refugees cannot be ignored and although many countries have closed their borders to refugees, a number of countries have chosen to help them. One of the main challenges have been to meet the nutritional demands of the refugee and that is why ending hunger and achieving food security should be the top priority of this day and age. A malnourished population can lead to the emergence of new diseases and eventually a new public health crisis. The nutritional requirement of a forcibly displaced person can be as high as 2100 Kcal (UNHCR Emergency Handbook, 2017). Not only does SDG 2 imply that food should be present in abundance, but agricultural research must also improve to meet that end. The second SDG of choice is SDG 3 which aims to alleviate the global burden of tuberculos is, Malaria, HIV/AIDS. In a less-developed country like Bangladesh, there were 187, 005 new cases of Tuberculosis in the year 2014 and although success rate of treatment is high, the prevalence of Multi Drug Resistant TB is also on the rise (WHO, 2018, para.1). The world must unite to combat TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS if global health standards are to improve. The third SDG which will have a positive impact on global health is SDG 6. Potable water and toilets not only bear an impact on health but also promotes a persons dignity and basic human rights. The number of slum dwellers around the world has risen to 2.6 billion people which means this multitude have no access to potable water and proper toilets. Not only is open defecation a threat to public health but it is also undignified and unacceptable. The fourth SDG of choice is SDG 1 which aims to end poverty. No matter how improved facilities become in slums, it is impossible to have a long-lasting impact on global health unless poverty is fought tooth and nail. If slum dwellers continue to remain slum dwellers, despite adequate number of toilets and potable water for everyone; public health challenges related to overcrowding and poor standards of sanitation will continue to bear heavy on 2.6 billion of the worlds slum dwelling population. The fifth SDG of choice is SDG-5 or promotion Ge nder Equality. Even in a developed country like Australia the pay gap between men and women is 15.3 % (Workplace Gender Equality Agency, 2018) and 83 % of single parent families in Australia were single mother families in 2012 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). This degree of disparity should be addressed since the children of single mothers also have the right to a secure financial future and handouts from the government can never guarantee that. Goal 3 intends to attain general health coverage and ensure access to safe and affordable medicines. Goal 6 aims at guaranteeing clean water for drinking to prevent illnesses and deaths brought about polluted water, (United Nations, 2017). Sanitation helps keep good health and expand life spans. Goal 1 desires to terminate poverty which is possible through creating jobs. Attaining this goal is key to ensuring healthy lives. References: UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2018, from https://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/meetings/2015/un-sustainable-development-summit/en/ United Nations. (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017 Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2018). Figures at a glance. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/figures-at-a-glance.html UNHCR Emergency Handbook. (2017). Food security in camps. Retrieved from https://emergency.unhcr.org/entry/85653/food-security-in-camps World Health Organization. (2018). WORLD TB DAY 2016: Bangladesh continues its battle against the disease. Retrieved from https://www.searo.who.int/bangladesh/world-tb-day-2016/en/ Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2018). What is gender pay gap? Retrieved from https://www.wgea.gov.au/addressing-pay-equity/what-gender-pay-gap Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). One Parent Families. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6224.0.55.001~Jun%202012~Chapter~one%20Parent%20Families Szlezak A., Bloom R., Jamison T., Keusch T., Michaud M., Moon S., Clark1 C. (2010). The Global Health System: Actors, Norms, and Expectations in Transition. PLoS Medicine, 7(1): e1000183. Doi: 1371/journal.pmed.1000183. Beaglehole R, Ebrahim S, Reddy S. (2007). Prevention of chronic diseases: A call to action. Lancet, 370: 21522157 DOI:1016/S0140-6736(07)61700-0. USAID (2017). U.S. Foreign Aid by country. Retrieved from: https://explorer.usaid.gov/cd/BGD?implementing_agency_id=1 World Health Organization (2018). Country and regional data on diabetes. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/diabetes/facts/world_figures/en/index5.html