Need 2 original eassys follower up responses need ASAP by 6pm

1)

                In leprosy, does the patient suffer from stigmatization? If so, does it affect their: marriage or personal relationships? , family relationships?, employment? Economic status?,  or housing?         

                My first encounter with leprosy is hearing about it at church. I know that in the days of the Bible if you had leprosy you were band from being in the village with everyone else and were not allowed to be around any family or friends until you were completely healed, then you had to go through a cleaning process for seven days before returning to home and to a normal life.  Often, people with leprosy went away to die, no one wanted to be in any contact with people with leprosy, do they died not from the leprosy primarily but malnourishment among other things.  Leprosy is a disease that affects the skin and the nerves causing sores, with an incubation period of five years and up to 20 years for symptoms to appear. Leprosy is a disabling tropical disease that is severe in nature and is caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium Leprae. Although this disease mainly affects the skin if left untreated for long periods of time it can damage the eyes, nerves, and limbs (Helman, 2007).            Although the Bible speaks of leprosy, the first documented isolation of the bacterium was in 1873, by a Norwegian man, Dr. Amauer Hansen (Luka, 2012).  Leprosy is concentrated in the Sudan but found in west, east, and south Africa (Luka, 2012).  The Stigma of leprosy is mainly from lack of understanding, and although the disease is only mildly contagious people see the effects of the disease on the skin and shy away from those people (Luka, 2012), (Helman, 2007). This skins disease affects every area of the person’s life, social life marriages, religious functions, just like in the bible days where someone was outcast from their village most of these people are shoved away from society today. There are still active cases being documented in the Sudan, so this is still a present illness that people are having to deal with. Most die because there is a lack of people willing to help them. Due to the stigma associated with this disease people suffer with emotional distress and anxiety, leading to psychosocial issues. The stigma is so severe that it leads to people having to beg for food or water, mentally this is more strenuous on women than men. Removing the stigma is a difficult process, changing false beliefs and education is a key factor. Leprosy is curable and free, since leprosy lies dormant for so long the effect of the disease on the nervous system may not be reversible, but clearing up the skin is possible (Luka, 2012). Do you think you can help someone with leprosy? I had a few eye-opening experiences while working in the hospital, one patient was suspected positive for tuberculosis, and another was positive for bacterial meningitis. And I had been in close contact with both patients.  At the time, they were unsure of a specific diagnosis, none the less these patients needed dialysis. I was so scared and unwilling to dialyze them due to the suspected diagnosis. I did not want to “catch” either one of these illnesses.  I then decided that if that was me or one of my family members, I need someone to care for them I educated myself on what to do and what not to do and proceeded with the treatments. This question is a difficult one when thinking of your family, friends or other you meet out in the public. Do you think you can do it?

References

Helman, C. (2007). Culture, Health and Illness . New York: Hodder Headline Group.

Luka, D. E. (2012). Understanding the Stigma of Leprosy. South Sudan Medical Journal , Vol 3 Issue 3 .

2) Beaglehole, R. and Bonita, R. (2010) in their National Institutes of Health (NIH) online article defined global health as a “collaborative trans-national research and action for promoting health for all”.  This explains various policies and declarations made by WHO, and other international organizations to tackle health problems plaguing nations of the world; more so in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin-America. Why these regions?  Two main reasons have been pointed out; poverty and overpopulation which indeed can affect global health.  These also have some underlying factors closely relating to them such as:  disease, malnutrition, poor healthcare, lack of water, poor quality education, inequality in distribution of available resources, inadequate shelter, insufficient electric power etc.  Helman, (2007) also listed some reasons such as: “Overpopulation, Urbanization, Primary healthcare, Deforestation, and Specie extinction” (p.426).

Poverty is a situation where the most basic life sustenance ability is unattainable.  Once, the situations already listed above is present in a people, then all sort of threats to life such as diseases, insecurity of lives and property, because the rich get attacked by the poor who live among them.  For the rich, the constant fear for their safety lead to health problems, such as hypertension, mental illness, depression and anxiety; just as the poor suffer due to deprivation.  The country is reduced to a state of anarchy.  This situation resembles what is currently taking place in Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Cairo + 20: (2014) explains that lack of control of rural to urban migration has left cities in sub-Saharan Africa deficient of basic social and economic amenities to cope with the overflow of population.  The migrants are so poor that they cannot afford decent shelter, therefore they resort to erecting satellite shanty towns (slums) within and around the cities.  This causes overcrowding, and more infectious diseases to spread faster than the government can manage. Life expectancy for the rich and poor remain low.  Because of the large influx of people from rural to urban areas the government is overwhelmed and can do nothing to curb it (p. 756).  Nigeria, currently is going through this type of crisis in the major commercial cities namely:  Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba, Yenagoa, Abuja etc.  Living conditions of the poor are deplorable, existing drainages are clogged by these unauthorized makeshift buildings which cause flooding during the rainy season, giving rise to breeding grounds for mosquitoes causing malaria and other waterborne diseases to spread.  Most of the times, the poor end up not getting jobs and resort to burglary, plundering of the natural resources, deforestation, and environmental pollution.  Since many of the poor are jobless, the main pastime they have, is making more babies that worsened their economic prospects.

Furthermore, given these instances, no matter what laudable policies international organizations, such as WHO put in place; with the stated definition above, without the political will of the various governments of the world driven mainly by corruption, global health would be difficult to achieve.  As reiterated by Cairo + 20 (2010), “Global leadership and knowledge-based accountability are required to achieve progress:  through political-will, wide civil society participation, and the generation and use of knowledge to monitor sustainable development commitments” (p.757).

Finally, from the above discussion as to why poverty and overpopulation can affect global health, what do you suggest can stop the influx of people from rural to urban centers in search of better life but end up reaping the opposite?

REFERENCE

Helman, C. G., (2007), CULTURE, HEALTH AND ILLNESS, (5th edition), Boca Raton, FL. Taylor and Francis Group.

Cairo + 20: (2014) THE UN ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT BEYOND 2014

Source:  Population and Development review, Vol. 40.  No. 4 P. 755-757

Published by:  Population Council.

Beaglehole, R. and Bonita, R. (2010) GLOBAL HEALTH ACTION: WHAT IS GLOBAL HEALTH?   Doi 10.3402/gha.v3i0.5142

Source:  National Institutes of Health. Retrieved 4/14/17