Free «The Public Health Infrastucture» Essay Paper

Public health in developing countries can be a huge task especially when it comes to working in them.  The third-world countries are characterized by underdeveloped economies. They are mostly situated in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In these countries, one is likely to encounter the high levels of poverty, overpopulation due to high-birth rates. Education, health care and other basic services are highly insufficient.

In this case, this study will focus on Kenya as it is among the developing countries that its public health sector is still struggling to come up into the right shape. Therefore, the underdeveloped economy in the country the public health providers and other medical expertise are required to adapt to the cases of less or no facilities. The large population requires more than its government can offer thus creating fewer facilities in hospitals and dispensaries to serve the sick patients. For example, when working as a midwife  one has to improvise may be learn to use kitchen tables or low benches to examine your patients and even at times learn to work without  gloves or sterilized equipments. This calls for one to adapt to the conditions while maintaining good standards. All these conditions are due to low-economy growth in the country.

 

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There are other conditions that are brought about by other influencing factors such as, in this country there is a high risk of encountering diseases that are only read about in medical books such as neonatal tetanus, malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, parasitic illnesses, Ebola, elephantiasis and many other epidemics. Insecurity, political instability and tribal clashes contribute towards the low provision of public health in Kenya. All these create a very poor working condition in the country, yet creating lots of casualties to be served in the poor conditions already created by the latter issues (Brent, 2009).

Poor infrastructure in the country is nothing but the usual way of living. In this case, the public health providers such as doctors and nurses have no other choice but to adapt to these harsh conditions that come with their work. In some cases, one is required to walk on foot, ride on a mule, horseback or in a four-wheel drive to cross rivers and other tough terrains. Living conditions in this country are not welcoming because at times, medical personnel are forced to sleep on the ground, or on the bare floor, or on mats due to poor set standards for staff housing. Poor infrastructure in this country does not only mean the housing and the medical facilities it runs down to the roads too. The poor road conditions in the country affects the public health service provision as it makes it difficult for both patients and the medical staff to access the medical facilities. This leads to poor provision and access of medical services in general.

In Kenya cultural diversity cannot be ignored the provision of public health is highly hindered by the different cultures in the country. Some communities in this country believe that they cannot be treated in hospital due to their cultural believes. While some are forbidden by traditions and taboos from being injected with drugs, some other communities still believe in their witch doctors back in the village without them knowing that they are faced with real time illnesses that cannot be solved by the untrained village doctor. In this country some communities still adamantly believe in the traditional herbal treatments, this mode of treatment is never efficient as dosage is never exact.

Illiteracy also takes up a major role in the east African country most people in the country that are illiterate have no or low income. This in turn, affects the way they get their medical services. As a result, of poor income people tend to seek cheap medical services this lands them to the poor hands of unqualified doctors that give their services cheaply. On the other hand, if a person has no income this means that the person does not get any medical attention at all.

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As a result, poor income poor nutrition among the people in the country is a common occurrence. The poor nutrition leads to malnutrition in young people and children through this the immune system is highly affected by the poor feeding at the tender age. This turns the pressure to the government to provide health care and at the same time try and feed its people due to the dry nature of the country (Perle & Cowen, 2006).

 Kenya as a country has taken various and notable steps towards improving public health provision in the country. Though this has not yet yield the best results as the country still lack the necessary infrastructures, funds and even technical expertise to steer this development forward. Despite all this efforts by the government the public still tends to be lacking the necessary need. Education and awareness to the public about simple or complicated means to avoid common diseases and illnesses from the government has not yet yielded the much needed development.

One cannot compare these conditions to those in the developed countries. Medical services in developed countries are characterized by the availability of equipments and other facilities. These facilities are often readily available compared to the developing countries as well as information, and well trained medical staff, is also not a problem. Looking at the living standards, it gives a huge comparison between the developed and the developing countries. In the developing countries, one is likely to sleep on mats or bare floor; in the developed countries, they offer staff residence.  In the developed countries, political stability is never an issue, thus providing the best working conditions compared to the third-world countries where due to political unrest one is likely to meet armed men in the villages.