Factors Affecting Levels of Mortality

Question 1

What are the factors affecting mortality?

Answer 1

• diseases (infectious + parasitic)
• poverty
• diet
• fresh water
• access to healthcare + medicines
• eco. dev.
• ageing pop.
• injury related illnesses

Question 2

How does disease affect mortality rates?

Answer 2

• LICs:
  
  • infectious + parasitic diseases (relatively treatable) more prevalent + account for >40% of all deaths
  • inc. malaria + (HIV/AIDS = in Botswana 2010, 16 ppl died/day)
  • overcrowded + insanitary: tuberculosis + cholera can spread rapidly
• HICs:
  
  • non-communicable diseases (relatively incurable) more prevalent
  • inc. heart disease + cancer due to less activity, bad food + alcohol/tabacco intake
  • usually influenced by lifestyle choices: lung cancer from smoking or poor air quality

Question 3

How does poverty affect mortality rates?

Answer 3

• lack of clean water/poor sanitation
• sewage thrown on streets: leads to diseases + poor envi.
• poor quality of life
• food insecurity: malnourishment so weak immune system + more prone to disease

Question 4

How does diet affect mortality rates?

Answer 4

• poor nutrition leads to malnourishment + causes weak immune system (prone to lower respiratory infections, tuberculosis + measles)
• food shortages lead to undernourishment + so puts a strain on vital organs

Question 5

How does clean water affect mortality rates?

Answer 5

• LICs don’t have access to clean water so prone to diseases
  
  • diarrhoea, dysentery + cholera = 2000 children <1 die everyday

Question 6

How does access to healthcare + medicines affect mortality rates?

Answer 6

• limited access to facility/staff/medicine means treatable conditions (e.g. malaria + tuberculosis) are often fatal to poor ppl, so inc. DR

Question 7

How does eco. dev. affect mortality rates?

Answer 7

• richer, more eco. dev. country leads to infrastructure dev.s, producing better water, sanitation, diets + access to healthcare, dec. DR

Question 8

How does ageing pop affect mortality rates?

Answer 8

• inc. proportion of elderly = inc. DR

Question 9

How does injury related illnesses affect mortality rates?

Answer 9

• road traffic accidents, war casualties + industrial/repetitive strain injuries inc. DR