Reference no: EM132312070 , Length: word count:2500
Assignment - Final Paper: Frameworks in Global Health
Students will describe the demographic and health situation in their chosen country, examine how their country's health indicators compare to others in the region, and describe how these indicators have changed over time. Students then state the criteria they think are most appropriate for selecting health priorities for their country, and state what they think are the top health priorities of the country and justify the choices they made. This is similar to a "situational assessment" that Ministries of Health, donor agencies and non-governmental organizations carry out when they are thinking through how to invest the funds they have available for health activities in a country.
This assignment requires you to:
- Identify appropriate sources for information on the health status of the country you have chosen.
- Stratify the measures of health status by selected subgroups of the population.
- Place your country in the context of other similar countries in the region.
- Describe the dynamics of changes in health status over time using the concepts of transitions that we discussed in class.
- Rank the relative importance of the set of health problems in your country according to the consequences of these disorders on summary measures of health status such as disability-adjusted life years.
- Reflect on the importance of social, cultural, and political factors that affect the relative importance of health problems in your country.
Instructions for the Country Assessment -
1. Select a country of your choice.
2. Look up population, health, and nutrition data from the Web sites described and from other sources (see attached file).
3. Produce the tables.
4. Answer the questions for the assignment.
For each question, there are corresponding tables (see attached file):
Q1: Demographic transition - Table 1: Demographic and economic indicators and Figure 1: Population pyramid.
Q2: Epidemiologic transition - Table 2: Burden of disease based on Global Burden of Disease series in the Lancet.
Q3A: Maternal health and nutrition - Table 3A: Maternal health and nutrition.
Q3B: Neonatal/perinatal health and nutrition - Table 3B: Neonatal/perinatal health and nutrition.
Q3C: Post-neonatal/child health and nutrition - Table 3C: Post-neonatal/child health and nutrition.
Q3D: School age and adolescent health and nutrition - Table 3D: Adolescent & young adult health and nutrition.
Q3E: Adult and elderly health and nutrition - Table 3E: Elderly adult health and nutrition Supplementary tables on specific diseases.
Q4: Top health problems in your country - Table 4: Top health problems in your country Supplementary tables on specific diseases.
Questions for Country Assessment -
1. DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION (1.5 pages)
A. At what stage (or stages) is your country in the demographic transition? Justify your answers referring to Table 1 as well as the dynamic presentation of the population pyramid at www.census.gov. If your country does not fit neatly into any stage of the demographic transition, state this and explain why. If there are significant "bulges" in the population pyramid, describe these.
B. Is there evidence for significant variation by region, socio-economic status, or ethnic group? A good way to strengthen your answer to part B is to go to MEASUREDHS website and request a table showing values of TFR, contraceptive prevalence or other indicators by an independent variable such as level of education, income or region/province.
2. EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRANSITION (1.5 pages)
A. Is the concept of "epidemiologic transition" applicable to your country, and if so at what stage is your country in the epidemiologic transition? Justify your answers. If your country does not fit neatly into any stage of the epidemiologic transition, state this and explain why.
Examples of data to refer to in your justification, if available:
a. Deaths by cause.
b. Burden of disease is disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
B. Is there direct or indirect evidence that different groups within your country (rich versus poor, ethnic minorities etc.) have distinct patterns of disease burden? A good way to strengthen your answer to part B is to go to MEASUREDHS website and request a table showing values of MMR, IMR, <5MR, rates of wasting or stunting or other indicators that demonstrate the disease burden attributable to (DALY loss from) communicable, maternal, perinatal & nutritional problems by an independent variable such as level of education, income or region/province.
3. HEALTH AND NUTRITION THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE (4 pages)
A. Describe the maternal health and nutrition situation in your country. Referring to the three-delays model or other models, what are the reasons for the good or poor state of maternal health and nutrition in your country?
B. Describe the neonatal/perinatal health and nutrition situation in your country. What are the reasons for the good or poor state of neonatal/perinatal health and nutrition in your country?
C. Describe the older infant/post-neonatal (1-11 months) and child (1 to 4 years) health and nutrition situation in your country. What are the reasons for the good or poor state of post-neonatal and child health and nutrition in your country?
D. Describe the adolescent health and nutrition situation in your country. What are the reasons for the good or poor state of school-age and adolescent health and nutrition in your country?
E. Describe the health and nutrition situation for adults in your country. What are the reasons for the good or poor state of health and nutrition for adults and the elderly in your country?
Note: For many low-income countries early in the epidemiologic transition, little or no information of health of adults and the elderly will be available, other than data on a few specific conditions such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. If this is the case, it is sufficient to present this information.
4. TOP HEALTH PROBLEMS IN YOUR COUNTRY (About 3 pages)
In this question you should refer to both Table 4 as well as indicators presented in other Tables, your supplementary tables and your answers to the previous questions.
A. Which set of criteria for defining health problems do you think is most appropriate for your country, given that there are multiple sets of criteria that could be applied?
B. Applying this set of criteria, what are the top health problems in your country?
C. Why do you think this way of defining the top three public health problems best captures or summarizes the public health priorities for the country? You might consider in your answer which of the ways of defining the top problems would be most effective in communicating the public health agenda to potential partners, developing a plan of action and putting in place policies and/or programs to address these problems. Explain the reasons for your choice.
Attachment:- Assignment File.rar