Health

Question 1

Define ‘morbidity’.

Answer 1

Rate of illness per thousand of a population.

Question 2

Define ‘mortality rate’.

Answer 2

The number of deaths per 1000 of the population per year.

Question 3

Define ‘infant mortality rate’.

Answer 3

The number of deaths among infants below 1 year per thousand live births.

Question 4

Define ‘epidemic’.

Answer 4

Disease that exists permanently in an area.

Question 5

Give an example of an epidemic.

Answer 5

Malaria in Africa

Question 6

Define ‘pandemic’.

Answer 6

A disease that spreads on a large scale, often globally.

Question 7

Give an example of a pandemic.

Answer 7

Ebola

Question 8

Define a ‘vector’.

Answer 8

Infections transmitted by an animal host to humans.

Question 9

Give an example of a vector.

Answer 9

Mosquitoes transmitting malaria.

Question 10

What factors relate to health improving development?

Answer 10

Higher economic and social well-being of a country improves development.

Question 11

What inequalities may arise in economic well-being with the development of health.

Answer 11

Lower socioeconomic groups experience poorer health due to not having as much access to facilities as higher socioeconomic groups.

Question 12

Give evidence for social class begin affected by health.

Answer 12

People in poorer areas have higher rates of mental illness and disease.
- Healthy Lives, Healthy People (2010)

Question 13

List 3 major causes of morbidity in the northern hemisphere.

Answer 13

1) Heart disease
2) Cancer
3) Degenerative problems (e.g. dementia)

Question 14

List 3 major causes of morbidity in the southern hemisphere.

Answer 14

1) Poverty
2) Communicable diseases (e.g. cholera from water)
3) HIV/AIDs

Question 15

Identify a factor for morbidity in the northern hemisphere?

Answer 15

Poor diet (e.g. fast food)

Question 16

Identify a factor for morbidity in the southern hemisphere?

Answer 16

Lack of hygiene and sanitation.

Question 17

Identify 6 factors causing poor health in developing countries.

Answer 17

1) Communicable disease
2) Hygiene and sanitation
3) Nutrition and nourishment
4) Illiteracy
5) Cultural practices
6) Lack of healthcare

Question 18

Describe how communicable diseases can cause poor health in developing countries.

Answer 18

• Infections are transmitted
• This can be from: airborne, faeces (e.g. polio), water, contact, animals, sex (e.g. HIV)
• Airborne diseases account for 1/3 of all deaths
• Over 600,000 children die from malaria per year

Question 19

Describe how hygiene and sanitation can cause poor health in developing countries.

Answer 19

• Lack of access to safe water is a major cause of disease (.e.g cholera)
• Washing and cooking with dirty water is linked with 80% of disease in LDCs with 3.4 million deaths each year occurring as a result
• Poor sewage systems (e.g. faeces in rivers) can cause diarrhoea based illnesses
• Over 2 million children a year die from diarrhoea diseases
• World Bank stated that improving hygiene and sanitation has more impact on health than improved drinking water

Question 20

Describe how nutrition and nourishment can cause poor health in developing countries.

Answer 20

• Poverty causing poor nutrition/lack of nourishment have significant effects on health
• Poverty causing ill health reinforces further poverty due to being too ill to earn a wage
• Children don’t generally die from lack of nourishment however it makes them more susceptible to disease
• According to the UN, over 12% of the population are under-nourished
• Bangladesh lose an estimated 2% of the GDP due to undernourishment and so has economic impact on development

Question 21

Describe how illiteracy can cause poor health in developing countries.

Answer 21

• UNICEF argued that there is no tool for development more effective than education for girls
• Female education is vital as in many developing countries women are responsible for feeding, cleaning, and the health of the family which therefore increases life expectancy as they are more aware
• Allows them access to power due to not being as easy to control
• Make own living with opportunity for work and so improves development of country economically

Question 22

Describe how cultural practices can cause poor health in developing countries.

Answer 22

• Patriarchal culture prevents girls getting education
• Patriarchal culture causes a lack of power and control so they can’t decide to use contraception
• Poor education and so lack of information about contraception leads to the spread of HIV
• Women account for 57% of HIV infections in South Africa whereby they are 3x more at risk than men
• People in Soweto want to be HIV+ due to the benefits they receive to help their family live

Question 23

Describe how lack of healthcare can cause poor health in developing countries.

Answer 23

• Effective healthcare is important in poorer countries
• The Millennium Development Goals predict delivery of vaccines and basic healthcare is essential for development which is especially important for rural areas whereby access may be limited
• Training people in villages to be birth attendants significantly improves infant mortality rates

Question 24

What is the Bio-Medical Model?

Answer 24

• Inherited from the West
• Focuses on the physical or biological aspects of health problems
• Encourages medicalisation of healthcare assuming it will treat all illnesses

Question 25

Identify a criticism of the Bio-Medical Model.

Answer 25

They assume that everyone experiences an illness the same way and that medicine will treat it when that is not always the case for everyone as some people may not respond to some treatments.

Question 26

What are Modernisation theory’s views on health in developing countries?

Answer 26

• The West has impacted the life expectancy and mortality rates in developing countries
• Western education spreads new (scientific) knowledge and awareness of illnesses and their causes
• Media campaigns can also serve this purpose (e.g. reducing STIs)
• Western medicine has eradicated some illnesses that affected developing countries (e.g. small pox) with immunisation programmes (e.g. vaccines)

Question 27

Identify 2 criticisms of Modernisation theory.

Answer 27

1) Foster-Carter (1985) argued that drugs banned in the West due to being deemed unsafe find their way to the third world so Western medicines do harm
2) Ethnocentric in its assumption that Western technology will aid developing countries with the same effectiveness

Question 28

What are Neoliberalism’s views on health in developing countries?

Answer 28

• Emphasis on a market approach to healthcare
• Individuals should provide their own healthcare rather than rely upon the state
• Privatisation of health services to provide efficiency and the best practice
• TNCs who develop drugs should be protected from piracy to continue research and development with competition causing low prices

Question 29

Identify 2 criticisms of Neoliberalism.

Answer 29

1) Privatisation in developing countries with high poverty will cause health to worsen as majority won’t be able to afford
2) The company ‘Big Pharma’ has conducted unethical experiments testing new drugs on those with meningitis in Nigeria without their consent, killing many children as a result - taking advantage of their situation to help the West

Question 30

What are Dependency theory’s views on health in developing countries?

Answer 30

• Failure to take into account social factors of indigenous population with knowledge and practices
• Due to influence from the Neoliberalist approach, a two-tier health system has developed which pays little attention to basic health care and prevention of disease
• This market of healthcare has reinforced the two-tier system with differing experiences of healthcare as only elites can afford to pay
• Trained professionals are leaving Satellites to work in Metropolises due to higher pay (1/100,000 doctors to patients in Malawi compared to 166/100,000 in UK)
• Poverty and amount spent by Satellites on health is directly related to issues with debt and dependency on aid from Metropolises

Question 31

Identify a sociologist who supports Dependency theory.

Answer 31

Navarro (1982) argued that health in developing countries could only be understood in the light of colonialism that caused their state of under-development

Question 32

Identify 2 criticisms of Dependency Theory.

Answer 32

1) Goldthorpe (1975) argued that colonialism provided countries with basic infrastructure as Ethiopia face severe development problems due to lack of infrastructure from never being colonised
2) Roberts and Hite (2000) note that Frank’s explanation is outdated as an explanation for modern exploitation

Question 33

What are Feminism’s views on health in developing countries?

Answer 33

• Women are generally worse off than men with less power
• Lack of education leads to early and multiple pregnancies can increase risk of maternal mortality as poverty and low status means women have less access to healthcare
• Cultural traditions reduce women’s opportunities that can impact health (e.g. early marriage and early pregnancy)
• 90% of workers in EPZs are women who are working 12hrs a day which would cause health issues due to lack of rest with poor conditions posing further health risks

Question 34

Identify a sociologist who supports Feminism.

Answer 34

Gloria Steinem argued that women live in a ‘fifth-world’ where they experience more levels of poverty, exploitation, and ill-health than men.

Question 35

Identify 2 criticisms of Feminism.

Answer 35

1) TNCs aren’t a burden as whilst women have low wages they’re still gaining income which leads to more power in a family unit and ability to pay for healthcare
2) Educating girls on contraception will have no effect if patriarchal ideologies still stand.

Question 36

What conclusion can be drawn from health and its impact on the development of LDCs?

Answer 36

Health can hinder the development of an LDC due to spending Government funding on improving health which can cause debt to some countries as well as aid in the form of vaccines causing further debt during an outbreak crisis.