Essay on Low Life Expectancy in Developing World

An assessment of world demographic gives a picture of how things are especially in the developing countries. The developing world, which is mostly made of sub-Sahara Africa countries, still faces many problems such as low literacy levels, poverty, insecurity, poor living conditions, corruption, poor infrastructure and poor economic situation (Husain, 2002, p.170). Such problems contribute to the issue of low life expectancy in the region. For instance, according to Mason (2004, p.2005), an average life expectancy of a Japanese female is approximately 85years while that of a Sierra Leone girl is 35 years (Mason, 2004, p.2005). The disparity between the two levels of life expectancy is 50 years which is such a huge difference. From that, life expectancy can be defined as an average age that a small baby of either gender is likely to live if the present birth conditions remain constant for the rest of life. Thus, life expectancy is usually a reflection of socio-economic conditions prevailing a particular nation. These socio-economic conditions tend to have a bearing especially on factors that determine mortality rate of a country. These factors include nutrition, healthcare, disease control, literacy, famine, immunization, and security. Based on these factors, it is clear why most developed nations have high life expectancy. Such nations have better health care systems and also proper immunization for infants. Additionally, these nations do not suffer from nutrition issues or lack of food. In fact, the developed nations fight issues of over consumption and obesity (World Bank, 2011, n.p). There are various solutions to low life expectancy such as tackling issues of child mortality, improving health care systems, expansion of food production, educating the people, and good governance. However, my opinion is that tackling issues of child mortality, and improving health care are the best solutions to low life expectancy.

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Tackling the problem of child mortality is the key to increasing life expectancy. In the developing world, about fifty percent of deaths affect children below five years. Research that was conducted by Ajao, Awogbemi & Ewumi (2011, p.307) clearly shows this fact. Ajao, Awogbemi & Ewumi (2011, p.307) further argue that 10 million children are expected to die every year in these developing nations Ajao, Awogbemi & Ewumi (2011, p.307). Such deaths are as a result of lack of immunization, poor health conditions, and lack of access to clean drinking water. Moreover, lack of qualified personnel has also accelerated child mortality (Buor and Bream, 2004, p.927). Thus, to improve child mortality, the first and the most important step is to provide the people with clean water because this eliminates diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, and other related water-borne diseases. Since lack of immunization has also contributed to childhood mortality, the international community and the government should ensure that all infants are immunized and also live in environments that are free of diseases such as malaria.

The second solution of improving low life expectancy in the developing countries has to do with improving the health care systems in the region. When a country does not have good health care systems, the result is low life expectancy among the citizens. Thus, one can argue that there is a direct relationship between life expectancy and the nature of health care in a particular country. According to Mason (2004), most third world countries have neglected their health care sector, and as a result of that, the sector is in a terrible condition. In developing countries, most health care sectors have few health professionals (Anyangwe, and Mtonga, 2007, p.95). Additionally, due to corruption in the public health sectors, the government has decided to privatize health sector. These issues together with poverty have made it expensive for the citizens to access quality and affordable care hence making them look for traditional care methods. Due to these issues, diseases like cancer, malaria, HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and other life-threatening diseases have been the norm in the third world countries (World Health Organization, 2006, n.p). Additionally, patients living with HIV and Aids find it hard to access anti-retroviral drugs. These developing countries also do not have cancer professionals and cancer care units, and thus, cancer is taking of thousands of lives. Poor management of tuberculosis, HIV and aids, and other opportunistic diseases has also affected the African population. The lack of proper health care has also resulted to resistant TB bacteria. With that, the government should address health care it needs to reverse the norm of low life expectancy in the developing countries. To achieve this, the government should be willing to invest a large portion of their budget to health care (Riley, 2001, p.50). Providing quality care leads to a reduction in the mortality rates. The sector should be structured in a manner that the every citizen has access to it with ease. Besides, the patients living with HIV and aids should also have access to antiretroviral drugs, and a follow-up should always be performed. With that, life expectancy can be improved.

Some people argue that reducing child mortality does not effectively increase life expectancy. For instance, some scholars argue that education is the key to everything as far as reducing infant mortality is concerned (Kabir, 2008, p.190). They go further and claim that when people are literate, childhood mortality can be effectively reduced and result to increase life expectancies among the people. However, research has shown that life expectancy is largely determined by the health conditions of a country and this starts with a reduction of child mortality. Educating the citizens is also important according to (Rogers and Wofford, 1989, p.245) but that comes after reducing child mortality through the provision of better health services, immunization, and providing the citizens with clean water.

In summary, low life expectation is an indicator of poor socio-economic conditions. Therefore, developing countries need to deal with the issue of low life expectancy through reducing childhood mortality, and this is achieved through immunizing infants, providing citizens with clean water, and improving health conditions among the citizens. Besides, the health care system should be enhanced through equipping it with enough and qualified personnel and making it accessible to every citizen. Developing countries should thus put a lot of effort to provide better health care and also improve child care for the sake of the nation. Despite that, governments should also focus on proving good socio-economic conditions for the well-being of its citizens. Public health has a lot of influence on life expectancy, and thus the developing world should focus a lot on it if they want to increase life expectancy among the citizens.

Bibliography

AJAO, I.O., Awogbemi, C.A. and Ewumi, T.O., 2009. Towards achieving a robust life expectancy by the year 2020: a statistical examination of major global determining factors, Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 4(3), pp. 307-317.

Anyangwe, S.C. and Mtonga, C., 2007. Inequities in the global health workforce: the greatest impediment to health in sub-Saharan Africa. International journal of environmental research and public health, 4(2), pp.93-100.

Buor, D. and Bream, K., 2004. An analysis of the determinants of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Women's Health, 13(8), pp.926-938.

Husain, A.R., 2002. Life expectancy in developing countries: a cross-section analysis. The Bangladesh Development Studies, 28(1/2), pp.161-178.

Kabir, M., 2008. Determinants of life expectancy in developing countries. The journal of Developing areas, 41(2), pp.185-204.

Mason, B., 2004. World Health Report: Life Expectancy Falls in Poorest Countries. International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Retrieved on October, 21, p.2005.

Riley, J.C., 2001. Rising life expectancy: a global history. Cambridge University Press.

Rogers, R.G. and Wofford, S., 1989. Life expectancy in less developed countries: socioeconomic development or public health?. Journal of biosocial science, 21(02), pp.245-252.

World Bank, 2011. World development report 2011: conflict, security, and development. World Bank.

World Health Organization, 2006. The world health report: 2006: working together for health.