Geography Essay

Submitted By shinyspider
Words: 536
Pages: 3

Describe and explain how the health of a country differs.

The health of a country may differ depending on which facts it is determined from and cannot be based off from the richness and abundance of its resources. For example, nutrition problems can occur in both LEDCs and MEDCs. Whilst millions of children suffer from being undernourished in LEDCs and MEDCs, a developed country such as the United States, will have people who are overweight. The fact that the USA is an MEDC does not imply that it is a healthy country. Many tend to be malnourished or obese as they do have a balanced diet, and suffer from diseases of affluence. These tend to result from increasing wealth in a society and may include type II diabetes, coronary heart disease obesity and cancer as well as mental health conditions.

In contrast, diseases of poverty tend to be infectious diseases which are related to poor hygiene and inadequate health safety which leads to low vaccination coverage for example. Poverty is considered the determinant of such diseases, as well as the diseases themselves being barriers to economic development such as HIV/AIDS. Other include malaria and tuberculosis, as well as treatable childhood diseases such as measles, pneumonia and diarrheal diseases. As standards of living slowly improve worldwide and diseases of poverty decline, what are known as the diseases of affluence are expected to increase in developing countries. For example, in 2008, approximately 80% of all deaths due to Non-Commutable Diseases (NDCs) such as strokes, heart diseases, cancers and diabetes, occurred in low-middle income countries.

Access to water is important for improving the health and development of a country as it is part of the first millennium development goal : eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. Having access to water is good, however it must be clean water aswell. Also, if it is children who are sent to retrieve water from wells, then they are out of school and cannot receive an education. The geography of a country affects the transport and access of resources. If a country suffers a drought,