4.2 Variations in health and life expectancy Flashcards
Which two regions have the most gender disparity in literacy rates?
Africa and South Asia
Why is there high gender disparity in literacy rates in Africa?
-women are expected to marry young and stay home
-primary school costs money so families prioritize sending boys over girls
-girls are expected to stay home and provide care for the family
Why is there high gender disparity in literacy rates in Asia?
-political reasons are far more pronounced, with the Taliban preventing all girls from going to school and females are only allowed out with a male escort
Where in the world has the highest fertility rates and why?
LICs have lots of children, such as African countries, as they have a high infant mortality rate
High mortality rates are partly due to a lack of basic education and therefore sanitation
Contraception is less available and culturally accepted
Children need to work at home
Where in the world has the lowest fertility rates in the world?
HICs only have 1-2 children as it’s very expensive to raise a child, thanks to care costs
Birth control is free and widespread
Where are the highest levels of life expectancy found?
In developed countries, such as the UK, Western Europe, Japan, Australia and Canada.
China and Thailand have surprisingly high life expectancy for Asia
Interestingly, the US has a lower life expectancy of 82-86 than Canada, which has approximately 90 years. This could be due to factors like gun control or obesity levels
Where in the world has the lowest life expectancy?
In Africa- least developed countries and highest rates of poverty. Average at around 62 years of age.
Afghanistan also presents an anomaly as it has a much lower life expectancy than its surroundings - due to political regime, treatment of women and lack of healthcare provision
What is suggested if a country has low levels in disparity of life expectancy between genders?
biologically, women should be living longer than men, so if the disparity is very little, it shows inequality towards women, due to women not living as long as they should or a lack of development.
For example, Nigeria- could suggest high levels of deaths when giving birth
What is an example where gender disparity in life expectancy between men and women is unusually high?
In Russia, due to their culture of high levels of drinking, and in some years, due to war
What are the three categories that determine factors which affect health and lifestyle?
-wider determinants
-lifestyle factors
-preventative healthcare
What are some of the factors affecting health and life expectancy, under wider determinants?
-sanitation
-clean water
-sewage disposal
-education
-poverty
-occupation
-pollution
-conflict
What are some of the factors affecting health and life expectancy, under lifestyle determinants?
-age of child birth
-health and diet (obesity in HICs and malnutrition in LICs)
-wealth
-culture
-smoking/drugs/alcohol
-sport/exercise facilities
What is the life expectancy is Algeria?
76.39
What is the life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
56.54 (almost the world’s lowest)
How does governance and conflict affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-benefitted from a strong government
-Met and surpassed many Millennium development goals, including reducing poverty and hunger by half from 1999 to 2015
-progress thanks to the oil industry = 98% export earnings and 36% of GDP
How does poverty and deprivation affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-GDP increased by 30% in 30 years
-Life expectancy up by 16.6
-HDI value is now 0.736 (one of the highest in Africa)
-20% of rural still lack access to safe sanitation and 23% are below the poverty line
How does education affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-expected number of years in school increased by 4.5
-Achieving primary school enrolment rates of 98% in 2011 for children under 6
How does healthcare affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-Infant and mortality rates showing marked improvements, placing Algeria in the top 100 countries in 2015 for the indicator
How does governance and conflict affect life expectancy in Congo?
-conflict has been frequent since 1998
-rich in natural resources like copper, silver and gold, but this has been a curse and cause of conflict with neighbours
-6 million have died (half of which have been under 5) due to conflict or disease/malnutrition due to the lack of food distribution caused by the war
-unstable governance, civil conflict, controversial election procedures and power struggles all add to the conflict
How does poverty and deprivation affect life expectancy in Congo?
-poverty is deeply established, as it was among the lowest HDI rankings in 2014
-third lowest GDP in the world US$800
-lowest in food security- 40% of under 5s suffer from chronic malnutrition
-water for 47.6% is ‘unimproved’
How does education affect life expectancy in Congo?
-40% of children are forced to work instead of attend school
-situation worsened by extensive migration of young adults to cities for work
-lack of skilled migrants poses and threat to economic stability
How does healthcare affect life expectancy in Congo?
-most women have their first baby before 20- infant and maternal mortality rates are the world’s highest
-funding for healthcare is higher as a % of GDP than most African countries due to NGO funding
What did the OECD find in their report on their member’s life expectancy rates between 1985 and 2010
-average life expectancy had increased by 5.1
-Women were living 5 years longer than men
-people with the highest education level could expect to live 6 years longer than those with the lowest levels
-sharp decline in infant mortality
In the OECD report, what were the main reasons for an increase in life expectantcy?
health spending per capita was higher and reduced levels of smoking and calorie intake