HEALTH FACTORS

Starter Make a list of what you think are the main reason for ill-health in developing and developed countries

Learning Intentions: To determine and compare the causes of ill-health between developed and developing countries I can:  Produce a table of information showing the main illnesses of developed and developing countries including the reasons

Health is related to: - family background, - biological factors, - environmental features social and human conditions. There are links between certain diseases and   population distribution, density wealth. death rates life expectancy.

There are five main geographical factors that help to determine the state of health of an area or country. REMOTENESS CLIMATE NUTRITION WATER SUPPLY WEALTH

CLIMATE Areas that are hot and wet encourage the spread of infectious diseases. They provide the ideal breeding conditions for the VECTOR- that is the host of the disease. Areas that are dry cause water supplies to be restricted and for people to congregate around the few supplies that are available, increasing the risk of contamination.

WATER SUPPLY In ELDC’s, there are on average 50% of people who lack access to adequate clean water supplies. This figure increases dramatically in rural areas. Why? It is easier to pipe water in urban areas, and it gets to more people per km.of pipe.

WATER SUPPLY A foreign aid project to pipe water to a town.

WATER SUPPLY In rural areas wells provide the water, and they can run dry easily. It is often a long distance to walk to get to a well, and women and children spend much of their day fetching water. This can also have a bad effect on their physique.

WEALTH The richer countries can afford the four basics of good health- A balanced diet / clean water supplies / good housing / effective health care services. Obviously, poorer countries can not afford these.

NUTRITION Nutritional problems come in two broad categories- Under- and Mal- nutrition. Under nutrition is not getting enough food of any kind. This retards physical growth and limits human potential. It is also called starvation! Malnutrition is not getting a balanced diet. The sufferer may not die of this, but has a limited amount of energy to work, and is more prone to other diseases.

One day’s food for this Ethiopian woman.

REMOTENESS Areas that are difficult to get to due to being mountainous or hard to traverse ( eg.deserts) or those that are physically a long way from the rest of the country, like Siberia, will of course get a raw deal when it comes to getting help. Getting there will be costly and add to the price of the aid being delivered. Supplies may take too long to get there or may be intercepted on the route.

Definitions Endemic – disease found within a certain area, eg malaria is endemic to certain parts of Kenya Epidemic – rapid spread of an infectious disease to a large population in a relatively short time, eg ebola Pandemic – global disease outbreak, eg HIV/Aids

There are different types of health problems that affect the people in a country. They include- WATER-BASED DISEASES WATER-BOURNE DISEASES WATER-RELATED DISEASES DIET-RELATED DISEASES BEHAVIOUR-RELATED PROBLEMS These are not the only types, but they are the most common.

WATER-BASED DISEASES These are spread by parasites living in the water and infecting an intermediary host/vector that gives us a disease. They can include;- The freshwater snail infected by a fluke that infects people and carries SCHISTOSOMIASIS ( bilharzia).

WATER- RELATED DISEASES These are where the organism which causes the disease lives in water for at least part of its life-cycle. It can include;- The mosquito that breeds in water and causes MALARIA.

WATER-BOURNE DISEASES These are spread by people using contaminated water;- Lack of clean water for washing bodies causing YAWS. Contaminated water – often with raw sewage- that allows bacteria to infect people using it, like CHOLERA or TYPHOID.

DIET-RELATED DISEASES MALNUTRITION- Kwashiorkor is a disease linked to protein deficiency. The result is that physical growth particularly in children is retarded, hair may fall out, skin loses its colour leading to social stigma, it may fall out completely, and the stomach is greatly distended. Another example is RICKETS, where the legs bow outwards at the knees due to weak bones not taking the weight properly. This is due to lack of vitamins C and D.

Skin lesions like scurvy occurs with a lack of fruit and vegetables. MALNUTRITION (cont.) Skin lesions like scurvy occurs with a lack of fruit and vegetables. Fungal infections like ringworm are common due to lack of vitamin A. In EMDC’s, cancer, stroke, diabetes and heart disease are major causes of death due to a poorly balanced diet and poor lifestyle. Osteo-porosis is from a lack of vitamin C in older people, especially women lacking oestrogen.

Scurvy – the effects

Ringworm

Malnutrition often happens when diets are based on only one main food source- like rice- and lacks variety supplied by nutritious foods. Areas typical of this are the Indian sub-continent and South-east Asia. A significant proportion of the population are unhealthy and unable to work for any length of time. They are susceptible to other simple diseases and soon the whole economy suffers.

General causes of diseases in Developed countries Heart disease, cancer and asthma most common Lifestyle factors such as fatty diets, lack of exercise and stress can contribute to heart disease and cancer Medical research has proved that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer and heart disease.

Lung cancer

Heart disease

Lifestyle eg high consumption of alcohol can cause cancer of the liver and mouth. Exposure to a badly polluted environment has been suspected of being a cause of some cancers eg leukaemia Environmental factors eg air pollution, food additives and the use of chemical fertilisers all affect people's chances of contracting cancer, heart disease and asthma. Family genes are a major factor in people suffering from heart related. Some believe hereditary factors are important in some cancers.

General causes of diseases in Developing countries cholera, malaria and Kwashiorkor common Lack of development, adequate food supplies, poverty, poor standards of hygiene, lack of clean water, poor housing conditions, poor standards of sanitation and local climate conditions all contribute. Population more likely to contract and die at an early age from diseases.

Aids distributed throughout the world main cause of the disease is lifestyle. spread through unprotected sexual contact between infected sufferers and non-affected persons.

Poverty is a major issue - many African countries lack the money and facilities to launch health education programmes or provide the population with preventative methods such as condoms or needle exchange programmes. Other factors include infected blood supplies, drug users using infected needles and unborn children contracting the disease from infected mothers

Describe, in detail, the distribution of worldwide child deaths under the age of 5 4 marks

More children under the age of 5 die in developing countries (1) More children under the age of 5 die in developing countries (1). African countries have the most number of child deaths under the age of 5 (1). Many African countries have between 100-199 child deaths under the age of 5 (1) eg Sudan (1). There are mostly between 10-49 child deaths per 1,000 in Asia (1) eg Russia and China (1). There are typically between 10-49 child deaths under the age of 5 in South America (1) except Bolivia (1) which has between 50-99 (1). The continents of North America and Europe have the least number of child deaths (1). There are less than 10 child deaths under the age of 5 in many developed countries (1) eg UK (1).

Describe, in detail, the distribution of HIV 4 marks