Examining the MDGs and How they Influenced Health Factors

How the MDGs Work to Change Factors of Health

Through Dr. Richardson’s Global Health course I have come to the conclusion that the factors that effect peoples health can be divided into two categories. These categories are biological determinants and social determinants (Richardson). Within these categories there are various levels of importance. For example, things such as access to clean water or level of income are social determinants that play a huge role. Conversely, something like the quality of the air is still an important social determinant of the health of that area but is trumped by the previous two examples. I believe this as a good portrayal of the Millennium Development Goals and the issue of Public Health as a whole.  Because the goal is to prevent disease and promote health in addition to prolonging life, certain issues do not receive the attention they need in order to eliminate the negative outcomes they cause (Richardson). Despite the lack of space, there is also a lot of redundancy in the endeavors that take place. By attacking one problem from multiple angles there is a greater chance of solving that problem, especially when though problems are systematic. The Millennium Development Goals utilize this principle in Goals 3-5 (Richardson). 

Global Obesity

Global Obesity

People’s bodies are shaped from the time they are in the womb. The health of the fetus is  directly related to the mother’s health. When mothers eat healthy and their lifestyles are healthy, their children tend to be healthy, too. For example, there are signs that are located ubiquitously in restaurants and food markets that say, “pregnancy and alcohol do not mix.” Mothers are considered indicators for their children’s health. Therefore, it is important that mothers should have enough education that allows them to learn how to prevent obesity. Education also allows mothers to have jobs that provide an income to afford nutritious foods and not high caloric food that leads to obesity.

Social Determinants of Health

The Social Determinants of Health

Social Determinants of Health is beyond the typical factor of health services available for the person. It is a system of factors all together that help cause a person state of health. Factors such as the individual person, (genetics, sex and age,) and their behavior, social and physical environment, education, and being able to access an appropriate health care service. (Skolnik, 2012)

HIV

Social Determinants: HIV

         

The global trends and adverse health impact of HIV remains a major public health challenge and an urgent one of our time.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2882967/. Many of these conditions arise because of the circumstances in which people grow, live, work, socialize, and form relationships, and because of the systems put in place to deal with illness, all of which are, in turn, shaped by political, social, and economic forces. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2882967/. The simple way of looking at HIV is looking at the individual’s high-risk sexual behavior or drug-injecting practices although, it is a much bigger picture than that. 

            

What is the actual meaning about sugary drinks?

What is the actual meaning about sugary drinks?

There is nothing sweet about how much sugar people consume every day. A typical is sugary beverages such as soda has become a common drink for Americans.  The reason people love to drink soda because it tastes good, but it does not mean good for their health. If you record of all the empty calories and sugar from sodas you had been drinking after a long period of time, it adds up. An interesting fact and easy calculation the amount of sugar from “How Much Sugar in Sodas and Beverages?” that a typical 20oz bottle of coke has 240 calories and 65 grams of sugar. Now, that may not seem like a lot of sugar, but when you look at those 65 grams of sugar which equal around 16 teaspoons of pure sugar the truth behind sodas starts coming to light. Most people would have common thinking and agree that eating 16 teaspoons of raw sugar would be extremely unhealthy, but since it is dissolved into a beverage or any kind of sugary drink, most people do not realize how much sugar they are actually consuming. 

According to the sugar fact sheet, two out of three adults and one out of three children in the United States are overweight or obese, (Ogden, Carroll, Flegal, 2012) and the nation spends an estimated $190 billion a year treating obesity-related health conditions (Ogden, Carroll, Flegal, 2012). Over a long time cycle of continued consumption, those calories and sugar loads can have debilitating effects on the human body. Such effects include an increased likelihood of contracting heart disease, diabetes, weight gain and obesity, among many others. Informing people eventually leads to more people opting for healthier substitutes for their beverage choice.

Everyone can easily reduce the amount of sugary beverages they consume by drinking more water. As we known water is just water, it doesn't matter if you drink it three to four bottles a day. It is healthy for everyone who drink it. It helps to purge the toxic inside our body and release by urinary system.  The calorie in water is zero, and the important point is water has no sugar. Over a time span of months and even a few years, simply reducing or eliminating sugary drinks with plain old-fashioned water has been shown to help reduce obesity and help those already obese shed weight faster. A study conducted by researcher Deborah Tate, PhD.D., an associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that people who chosen to drink water over diet or regular sodas were more likely lose weight at quick rate. The success of the study is showcased from the fact that of those 318 overweight or obese people who participated, those who drank only water were more likely to experience a 5 percent weight loss — a percentage far more prominent than those who were instructed to drink soda or diet soda (Tate , D. F, 2012).

Regarding of sugary beverages, California State has release a solution that should the sugary drinks have warming labeled same like tobacco applied. State Senator Bill Monition has proposed a possible label example that could read, “STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverage with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.” It would share similarities to already-used labels warning of the risks of smoking (Zuraw, Lydia, 2014). The warning label would be a great idea because even though some nutrition facts are on sugary beverages they are oftentimes overlooked due to small fonts that many people simply glance over. Having a larger, more prominent label would catch people’s attention and have an impact on the beverage choices they make in their day-to-day lives. Along with the label, additional information could be made easily accessible to the masses via the Internet to further educate what over consumption of soda can have on the body.

Besides the negative effects that excess sugar in sugary drinks can cause to the body, the warning label could also bring attention to other ingredients. Ingredients are phosphoric acid, a syrupy liquid used for fertilizers, in rust-proofing metals and at one point, as a flavoring in soft drinks. Part of the reason sugary beverages are consumed on such a large scale is most people do not know the harmful of chemicals in them. If the warning labels clearly stated the soda’s ingredient outside the can, most people would be likely to opt out of drinking beverages due to concern for their health.

Like all good things, moderation is a main point. Sometime people in his or her life had drunk a soda; the important thing is people should to be known what they are putting into their body and they should stop it as soon before too late for their health. Soon or later, people will have to take the long-term effects from their daily nutrition.  If people make a good choice for protecting their health since they are young; they support to be having a good health on the days getting older. The requirement for sugary beverages to have a warning label with information could aid in the long run of making the population more aware of how their drinking choices in the present can benefit their overall health in the future.

Works Cited

-         "How Much Sugar in Sodas and Beverages?" Sugar Stacks. N.p., 2009. Web. 01 June 2015. <http://www.sugarstacks.com/beverages.htm>.

-         Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010. JAMA. 2012; 307:483-90.

-         Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Ogden CL. Prevalence of obesity and trends in the distribution of body mass index among US adults, 1999-2010. JAMA. 2012; 307:491-7.

-         Tate, D. F., G. Turner-Mcgrievy, E. Lyons, J. Stevens, K. Erickson, K. Polzien, M. Diamond, X. Wang, and B. Popkin. "Replacing Caloric Beverages with Water or Diet Beverages for Weight Loss in Adults: Main Results of the Choose Healthy Options Consciously Everyday (CHOICE) Randomized Clinical Trial." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 95.3 (2012): 555-63. Web.

-          Zuraw, Lydia. "California Senate Passes Bill Requiring Warning Labels on Some Sugar-Sweetened Drinks | Food Safety News." Food Safety News. Marler Clark, 5 June 2015. Web. 01 Dec 2014.

The Negative Social Effects of Childhood Obesity

As we see an epidemiological change from communicable disease to chronic disease, the world of public health has begun to focus on the obesity epidemic. Obesity can lead to many adverse health outcomes, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancers (World Health Organization, 2015). Is it possible that obesity itself has become a determinant for health—both physically and mentally? Although there are multiple determinants that impact one’s weight status, being overweight itself becomes a determinant of poor mental and physical health when the confounders are adjusted particularly for school-aged children. Teasing and bullying have a profound impact on the mental wellbeing of an individual, and there is substantial evidence showing that one’s weight status plays a role in his or her victimization.

A study by Lumeng et al. (2010) indicates that obese children ages eight to 10 were more likely to be bullied as compared to their non-obese peers, independent of the obese child’s race, gender, socioeconomic status, social skills, school demographic or academic achievement. To that end, obesity appears to be just as powerful than other factors commonly associated with prejudice among both children and adults—if not more so.

As with many other situations involving an “at-risk” population, one common assumption is that individuals of a lower socioeconomic status tend to be more adversely affected by risk factors than their peers. That’s not necessarily the case with weight-related victimization, as evidenced by Lumeng’s investigation of the theory that if an obese child were in the racial majority, was non-poor, attended a school that was less socioeconomically or racially diverse, had strong social skills or had higher academic achievement, then that child’s likelihood of being bullied due to his or her obesity would be reduced. After examining all of these possible contributors, the study found that none affected one’s vulnerability to being victimized based on weight.

The authors also examined the possibility that “…children are not bullied because they are obese, but rather that being bullied creates stress and unhappiness that leads to behaviors such as excessive comfort food consumption that contribute to excessive weight gain” (Lumeng et al., 2010). The researchers followed the individuals studied for three years and, considering changes the participants had in body mass index (BMI), found that obesity caused bullying, but that bullying did not necessarily cause obesity within the group of third- to sixth-grade students in the survey.

Given the issues raised by the studies and the stigmas overweight and obese youth face, even related to how they see themselves, there appears to be a significant need for anti-bullying efforts that address obesity specifically. This is an issue that intersects with and, arguably, supersedes other so-called risk factors like socioeconomic status and school demographics, as children who suffer from weight-related victimization come from many different backgrounds. However, there are gaps in the current evidence-based programs available to schools, social workers and prevention specialists, making for a situation in which one of the biggest issues youth face on a daily basis gets overlooked. More research is needed on how to develop programming that reduces or eliminates the engrained stigma against overweight and obese people in society, especially as more schools and educational organizations place an emphasis on reducing the prevalence of bullying among youth.

Works Cite

Campbell Development Group, LLC . (2012, september 16). "Can Do" Street Blog: Parent and Teachers. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://candostreet.com/blog-parents/2012/09/childhood-obesity-awareness-month/

Lumeng, J.C., Forrest, P., Appugliese, D.P., Kaciroti, N., Corwyn, R., & Bradley, R.H. (2010). Weight status as a predictor of being bullied in third through sixth grades. Pediatrics, 131(1).

World Health Organization. (2015). Media Center: Obesity and Overweight. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

The Risks of Giving Birth in a Developing Country

Women represent nearly half of the world’s population, however, there are many challenges that exist when promoting women’s health globally. In addition to a multitude of social issues that influence gender as a social determinant of health, there are inherent biological risks that are exclusive to the female gender. Unfortunately, with the ability to gestate comes greater exposure to the health complications associated with carrying and birthing children. This is such a severe threat to women's health worldwide that It is considered to be one of the fundamental health indicators for a population.

According to the World Health Organization, 75% of maternal mortality occurs due to severe bleeding, infections, high blood pressure during pregnancy, complications from delivery, and unsafe abortion (“Maternal Mortality”, 2014). These conditions are, for the most part, completely avoidable with proper medical attention during pregnancy and after the birth of the child.  In developed countries, where most births take place in a medical setting, it is virtually unheard of for a woman to die during childbirth. Positive outcomes such as these are much less common in developing country, where 99% of all maternal deaths occur (“Maternal Mortality”, 2014).

Although all women are susceptible to the same conditions, there are many barriers for women in developing countries that stand in the way of receiving care. Whereas nearly all women in high income countries have regular antenatal care, are attended to by a health worker during childbirth, and receive postpartum attention, only one third of women in developing countries have access to care (“Maternal Mortality”, 2014). In rural areas of these countries, for example, antenatal care is not possible for pregnant women as a journey to nearest healthcare facility can be many miles. Unless a woman is fortunate enough to live in an area with roads and access to transportation, she must travel this great distance on foot, which is out of the question for a woman in the later stages of her pregnancy. Additionally, If complications arise during the delivery, the mother, child, or both might sustain in the time required to obtain the medicines and healthcare workers needed to save their lives.

With these biological risk factors affecting such a large populations of women in developing countries, this is a serious global health issue that truly deserves attention. The first step towards improving these health outcomes has already been taken by acknowledging and addressing issues of access. In fact, since 1990 when, the rates of maternal mortality have nearly been cut in half through progress in the establishment of healthcare centers and extending the reach or existing ones through house calls (“Maternal Mortality”, 2014). Although this is encouraging, it also demonstrates that these women are dying needlessly of reasons that can be controlled through improved access. Instead of marking a victory, this progress is a sign that there can be, and should be, much more work done to  issue.

Citations

 Maternal Mortality. (2014). The World Health Organization. Retrieved May 21, 2015.