Globalization and Health

Globalization and Health

Introduction

Globalization is a phenomenon that has drawn a lot of attention to policymakers and practitioners in healthcare due to its significant impact on healthcare policing and practice. Globalization has led to increased proliferation of advanced medical technologies as well as integration in healthcare provision that has helped many nations and individuals live healthily. The evolving world today make population health an interconnected and a complex concept that must be approached from both national and global approach. According to (Hanefeld 2015), globalization brings a lot of complexities that pose several challenges to the health of many individuals. This paper focuses on how globalization, through global market integration, offers both benefits and challenges to population health policing and public health administration. Analysis of the issue is presented through understanding globalization, its key drivers, and how these factors have influenced population health.

Globalization

Globalization, for the purpose of this paper, is defined as the pattern of integration of economic markets in an effort to create a self-regulating global market for goods, services, skills, and technologies (Hanefeld, 2015). The need for political and social inclusion creates a phenomenon that can be defined as globalization, where information dissemination through developed technologies has dissolved territorial borders by bringing people together (Hanefeld, 2015). However, the focus of the paper is on the economics of globalization as the main reason why this transactional interconnection of global markets exists.

Globalization constitutes three fundamental aspects that impact its understanding and interpretation. There are spatial, temporal, and cognitive changes (Hanefeld, 2015). Spatial variation in globalization refers to how people move across territorial borders facilitating the exchange of goods and services as part of global trade. The temporal changes refer to how the perception and experiences of human life have evolved, dissolving differences in culture and encouraging the interaction of people. Globalization has also changed the perception of people on different matters such as drugs, where lifestyle has been spread throughout the world by practices such as media advertising (Hanefeld, 2015). The concepts identified in this passage have, in one way or the other affected the health of people.

Population Health

Health is defined by Haneheld (2015), population health is the “complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In modern society, the health of the human population is shaped by the interaction between cultural, social, ecological, and institutional systems. As such, good health for current and future generations highly depend on the sustainability of both environmental and social-cultural determinants (Forster, Kentikelenis, Stubbs & King, 2019). Among the different elements of human health, this paper narrows to the physical aspects like mortality and physical morbidity.

Globalized diseases

Globalization has led to the spread of certain diseases due to the interconnection of global networks and markets. The proliferation of some emerging and even existing diseases have gone against the common assumption by the international health community that some pathogens were stationary, and that certain diseases could be confined within specific geographical areas (Tabish & Syed, 2015). For example, in poor or developing countries, there is still a high prevalence of communicable diseases, despite the various advancements in antimicrobial agents and vaccines (Tabish & Syed, 2015). Today, emerging and new diseases like COVID-19, which originated in China, are now almost all over the world. More examples include Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Ebola, which rapidly spread across continents as a result of the interconnection of territories in the global markets (Hanefeld, 2015). Current global trends like the Coronavirus that is terrorizing the world today is enough proof against the assumption that diseases could be sequestered within certain geographical limits.

Human mobility is one of the key contributors to the globalized spread of diseases. The movement of people across nations has hastened the speed at which microbial agents are spread as well as shortening the distance for contacting infections (Eshraghian, Ferdos & Mehta, 2020)—not forgetting that industrialization, which is a product of globalized communities has increased the likelihood and speed of infections (Manukyan, 2018).  From the past, diseases that are highly infectious such as cholera and influenza were spread through movement of people to and from affected countries during trade, military missions, or even religious calls (Eshraghian, Ferdos & Mehta, 2020). Today, global factors such as travel and migration have fueled the spread of infectious diseases.

The movement of people across countries with different levels of economic growth has been an issue of debate. Globalization and health is a controversial issue between developed and developing countries where mixed results have been witnessed (Hanefeld, 2015). Developed countries with enhanced healthcare systems perceive the migration of people from poor countries as a threat to their health. Developing and middle-developed countries have high probabilities of contacting diseases like cholera, tuberculosis, SARS, and HIV/AIDs due to poor healthcare systems (Eshraghian, Ferdos & Mehta, 2020). Wealthier countries are also concerned that the migration of people from these nations may be a burden to their healthcare systems, in addition to spreading these diseases. What these countries overlook are the professionalisms they import from these developing countries.

Global trade, which involves importation and exportation of goods and services is another area that concerns human health. Globalization has opened global markets, which is a destination for various products and services, including provides of these services (Kooienga & Carryer, 2015). The nature of goods traded as well as the mobility of people to provide services, has affected the health of people in so many different ways (Hanefeld, 2015). First of all, some of the goods that are traded in the global market are health risk factors and increase the probability of infections and diseases (Hanefeld, 2015). People from poor countries, for example, import tobacco and drugs from developed countries. Smoking is a health risk increasing the chances of suffering from lung cancer, among other infections. We have heard cases of importation of counterfeit and even expired goods from developed countries to poor nations who consume at the risk of their health.

Economic vulnerabilities

One key element of globalization is the adaption of policies and standards that commercialize commodities and encourage free trade and interactionism. While the objective is to promote economic and social output, the system has been counterproductive, resulting in economic inequalities, insecurity, and vulnerabilities (Luongo, Menendez, Pautzke, Rupp & Tait, 2015). Global economies have focused on enabling production, deregulation of financial markets, and labor mobility. These dynamics have benefited some countries and, at the same time, have led to poor population health statuses in others.

Through increased labor mobility, some countries have suffered poor health owing to the globalization effect of social services and employment. Globalization requires world markets to remove trade barriers and encourage the free mobility of human capital (Hanefeld, 2015). The emergence of regional trade agreements has led to the migration of human capital. The labor market has now opened more global opportunities for people with highly demanded skills and knowledge to work in any country of their choice. The migration of labor and human capital results in an imbalanced capital flow between nations.

Developing countries, which cannot afford to pay high wages for skilled professionals, have only attracted low-skilled professionals (Luongo, Menendez, Pautzke, Rupp & Tait, 2015). A good example is in the healthcare profession, where well-trained and skilled healthcare professionals have migrated to developed countries to work for high-paying employers. Global healthcare players have also encouraged the attraction of cheap labor from poor countries, hence draining these nations the human capital that could offer proper healthcare (Luongo, Menendez, Pautzke, Rupp & Tait, 2015). Therefore, the search for cheap labor from developing countries and the mobility of human capital, which is facilitated by the deregulation of global markets has led to economic inequalities. Poor countries continue to experience low-level human capital and poor healthcare systems that attract only the lowly skilled healthcare workers.

The deregulation of international financial markets encourages foreign direct investments, which, on the other end, pose high economic insecurity to a country, in the event that investors withdraw their investments (Majeed, 2019). Foreign investments grow the economy of a country and are a source of revenue, which can be used to facilitate healthcare provision and build systems that ensure the health of people. However, massive foreign investment is an economic vulnerability since foreign investors can withdraw their investments in case they anticipate a crisis (Hanefeld, 2015). A good example is the world financial crisis that was a result of poor financial policies. The U.S. had warned its clients who had invested in Brazilian markets over concerns of the distributive work policies by the Brazilian Worker’s Party, which was likely to win the 2002 elections (Majeed, 2019). As a result, many U.S. investors withdrew their investments in Brazil, leading to a financial crisis. Many sectors, including the healthcare sector, crumbled as a result.

Liberalization of trade has allowed trade on healthcare services, which has affected the provision of healthcare. Globalization encourages trade in health services in the hope of access to improved healthcare, and that consumer’s choice is enhanced. However, the practice of trading health care services has long-term implications (Hanefeld, 2015). The long-term effects of trading healthcare services include a two-tier health system, inequality regarding access to healthcare services, migration of healthcare professionals from the public to the private sector, and undermining of national health systems (Kooienga & Carryer, 2015).

Globalization has influenced health care through the availability of knowledge and information. On the one hand, the proliferation of health knowledge through advanced and integrated information sources throughout the world has enhanced healthcare systems (Franjic, 2017). Global health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) has structured and organized healthcare systems in various countries over the world, to provide integrated and coordinated efforts to tackle infections and diseases (Majeed, 2019). For example, the WHO has disseminated information networks and established knowledge centers in countries all over the world. The involvement of WHO in healthcare systems enhances healthcare provision by providing critical and essential information to health fight diseases. In the current state of events stirred by the COVID-19 epidemic, the WHO is at the forefront of preventing and managing the health crisis.

The involvement of WHO in the healthcare systems of a country aims at enhancing the provision of healthcare services. However, the participation of such bodies as the WHO has undermined government control and involvement in its healthcare system (Franjic, 2017). Subsequently, the healthcare systems of many nations are under the influence of neoliberal economic policies, where the law of the market is left to control healthcare investment (Hanefeld, 2015). In such a case, the private sector has grown, and these governments are unable to adopt a universal regulation to protect the healthcare sector. Consequently, some groups of citizens, especially in the transitioning economies, are denied healthcare services, primarily because they cannot afford such services.

Social support

A crucial factor in human health is the support accorded by the social environment through moral, emotional, and informational transfer. Globalization and its activities have impacted social cohesion, integration, and interaction of people, which in turn influence the level of social support available for human health (Hanefeld, 2015). Patients like those suffering from HIV/AID requires a high level of emotional and moral support. Other mental diseases like depression also require the patient to be accorded continued and close social support. Through the internet, patients are able to join support networks all over the world, therefore, facilitating their coping with the diseases (Hanefeld, 2015). While social inclusion is a positive impact of globalization, social exclusion leads to a lack of social support.

Spread of lifestyles

Globalization, through the movement and interaction of people, promotes the spread of different lifestyles and cultures around the world, which have different effects on human health (Eshraghian, Ferdos & Mehta, 2020). Some lifestyle promotes healthy living while others increase health risks. Some unhealthy lifestyles include smoking, low levels of lack of physical activity, poor eating habits, excessive alcohol consumption, and drug abuse posse health risk to users. On the contrary, lifestyles that enough healthy diet, physical activity, and prohibit drug use are associated with healthy living (Franjic, 2017). These lifestyles are found in society, and individuals make a choice among the lifestyles. Drug use is majorly associated with the lifestyle of western countries and has been spread throughout the world as a result of global interactions and movement of people.

Global marketing practices, which are a primary component of global trade, have communicated behaviors that predispose people to chronic diseases. Through promotion and marketing operations, global trade influences people to consume fast foods that have high levels of sugar, salt, and fat (Hanefeld, 2015). These foods have long-term health implications for consumers as they are risk factors for chronic disease infection (Franjic, 2017). At the same time, productive lifestyles, such as physical exercise is propagated through global interactions. Such lifestyles encourage healthy living and reduce the risk of disease infections.

Effect on food

Food security has been threatened by global trade on food. Food is one of the basics for supporting not only human life but also good health. Lack of adequate and balanced diet causes nutritional diseases, including kwashiorkor, marasmus, among others. The liberalization of food trade means that countries have access to adequate food supply through importation (Hanefeld, 2015). Countries are able to buy cheap food from areas that produce food to satisfy their food demand. However, the encouragement and liberalization of food trade have led to the exportation of more food that rate of production, especially in countries that cannot produce enough for its consumption. Although the exportation of food stimulates economic growth, economists argue that food trade has the long-term effect of fueling food insecurity (Majeed, 2019). Some poor countries even lack the power to import enough food for its population, which lead to poor health.

Global environmental changes

Globalization has increased the level of economic activities leading to climate change. Global markets have increased opportunities for production and manufacturing activities, which in the first place, cause air pollution. The emission f polluted industrial smoke into the air has made the air unfit for human consumption (Hanefeld, 2015). Consequently, air-bone infections and respiratory diseases have increased. People living in highly industrialized areas have higher risks of contracting respiratory diseases (Franjic, 2017). Although there are regulations developed through a joint effort to reduce air pollution, the rates of carbon emission are still high and a risk to human health.

Loss of biodiversity is another significant impact of global climate change, which is fuelled by increased economic activities to meet the global demand market. Biodiversity is essential in attaining an ecological balance and supporting human life (Hanefeld, 2015). In addition, biodiversity plays a crucial role in human health, where some microbial agents are eliminated in the process (Tabish & Syed, 2015). The decrease in biodiversity is a result of increasing pollution in water, on the land and in the air resulting from global economic operations. Loss in biodiversity leads to increased pathogens and microbial agents that constitute health risks to individuals.

Positive Impacts

Globalization, as noted earlier, is not without a positive impact on human health. The whole idea behind globalization is to adopt a broader, well-structured, and integrated approach to handling issues that are common to many countries (Bradbury-Jones & Clark, 2017). Globalization aims at attaining economic sustainability, which will improve the economic sectors of a country, including healthcare. Several benefits have been a witness from globalization, some of which directly relate to human health and the healthcare systems (Franjic, 2017). The future of human health also depends on the globalized approach to factors affecting human health and sustainability.

Among many benefits, globalization opens opportunities to the best healthcare and a way of solving a major health crisis. Global penetration and diffusion of information have also shaped the healthcare profession in a way that opens up new opportunities (Franjic, 2017). An integrated approach through an established world, healthcare organizations, offers a strategic and coordinated approach to solving health issues. Liberalization and trade in healthcare services have also increased competition, hence increasing the quality of healthcare services (Hanefeld, 2015). Through a globalized approach to human health, researchers have a strong base and access to data, information, technology, and the capital necessary to research and develop new treatment procedures for emerging diseases.

Conclusion

Globalization is a trend that will grow into the future and will continue shaping human health in realms of health risk, population interactions, medical research and practice, healthcare policy, and healthcare profession. Globalization has led to a complex equation of benefits and challenges to population health. Significant challenges to human health as posed by globalization include the globalization of diseases. The mobility of people encourages the spread of contagious diseases like SARS and COVID 19. The migration and interaction of people from different cultures have also played a key role in spreading diseases. Microbial agents and goods also transfer pathogens from nation to nation. The level of government involvement in controlling healthcare policing has also reduced. It also affects biodiversity and food security, as well as opening up new professional opportunities for medical professionals and researchers. Benefits include the spread of healthy lifestyles and a coordinated approach to healthcare issues.

Recommendations for Action

1. The economic benefits of globalization need to be equitably translated into health benefits. There is a need for a more explicit consideration of the distribution effect at the global level so that the economic effects of globalization can effectively be used to developed healthcare systems. This involves the formulation of policies that direct resources to develop systems that support healthcare provisions, such as education, water, sanitation, nutrition, and environmental sustainability.
2. In countries experiencing the adverse economic effect of globalization, policies that aim at minimizing the impact on the health sectors will help shield the healthcare system. This can be achieved by ensuring that the government does not reduce expenditure allocated to the healthcare sector. At the same time, expenditure on other sectors can be tailored to provide eventual healthcare benefits.
3. Governments should be allowed some authority to regulate public health practices. Governments should have power within international agreements to make policies that protect their citizens from the adverse effect of global trading activities, like the consumption of tobacco.
4. International laws and organizations must recognize and allow the government to make healthcare-related policies. International organizations must recognize the incongruence in universal law application and allow the government to implement international health laws at their own account. However, support should also be offered to ensure configuration within healthcare systems and sector requirements.
5. Finally, international organizations must continually monitor the effects of globalization and use the analysis as a basis for decision-making. New policies must be developed and continually evaluated to manage the negative effects of globalization on health. Target areas include global climate change as a result of globalized market operations. The knowledge-based approach supported by research and technology should be employed to minimize disease spread.

References

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