A concern: contextual issues and implications

World Health

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tremendous advances are being made in human well-being with new medicines and technologies, but these coexist with extreme deprivation. In some of the poorest countries, life expectancies fell to half the level of the richest, because of devastating diseases such as HIV / AIDS in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. These setbacks are accompanied by increasing fears in all countries of new infectious threats such as SARS and avian influenza and behavioral conditions such as mental disorders and domestic violence. WHO stresses the importance of global healthcare professionals to meet this need: "At the heart of each and every health system, the workforce is central to advancing health." I hope to become part of this important workforce by going into the field of medicine.

The world as a whole has tremendous financial resources and technologies to fight most of today's health challenges. However, many national healthcare systems do not meet the people's needs. Countries have to make healthcare an essential national issue and work with other nations worldwide to analyze resources, collect knowledge and develop strategic plans for treating and preventing disease and promoting overall population health.

Building a network of skilled and dedicated healthcare workers is critical to develop and achieve national and global health goals. Healthcare is a labor-intensive service industry, where providers treat and care for patients, reduce or eliminate pain and suffering, prevent disease and reduce risk.

WHO explains that the number and quality of healthcare workers are positively associated with immunization coverage, outreach of primary care, and infant, child and maternal survival. The quality of physicians and the reach of their care are shown to correlate with positive outcomes in cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand, child malnutrition is becoming worse, due to staff cutbacks from health sector reform. Healthcare workers are in the best position to develop innovative and quality improvements. They also can guide the effective or wasteful application of resources such as drugs, vaccines and supplies.

This summer, I had the opportunity to attend the National Youth Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., where youth from all over the country discussed pertinent issues including the need for an improved healthcare system. I was able to talk with students across the nation, and some originally from other countries, about the inequalities in the provision of healthcare. The United States is a very rich country, but ranks very high in the disparity of healthcare services due to factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and geography. The gap between those who are rich and poor in the United States is the widest in 70 years, and there is a close connection between poverty and poor healthcare.