GUEST POST: How to Improve Medical Services in Third World Countries

The world has become a much smaller place, thanks to technology and globalization. But no matter how connected we are, there still exist huge disparities between the rich and the poor. The gap gets wider with each passing year, for individuals and nations. In the eyes of the developed world, third world countries are perceived as places where the standard of living is poor and where the things they take for granted are considered luxuries. In reality however, third world countries have their share of both the obscenely rich and the dirt poor. And the main reason for their backwardness is not just the paucity of money, but also the lack of awareness and education among the poorer and downtrodden sections of society.

When we consider the state of medical services in these countries, we see that the rich are able to afford any kind of treatment for all kinds of diseases. But for the poor and the middle class, medication is prohibitively expensive simply because quality medical services are only offered by the private sector. The government does offer services for the poor and those who are not able to afford private medical treatment, but the quality of treatment is poor at times. Also, the facilities are often overcrowded and not hygienic, and this makes the middle class hesitant to seek medical treatment at these places.

Improving medical services in third world countries is an uphill climb, but it can be done if:

• Tax money is put to better use – to build cleaner and more spacious medical facilities and to pay qualified doctors and other healthcare personnel so that they don’t move away to set up their own private practice or join a private care provider.
• Politicians don’t get greedy and swindle public funds that are meant for the improvement of society and the common man.
• Bribery is abolished and doctors and healthcare personnel are encouraged to offer better services through various incentives.
• People are made more aware of the need for cleanliness and personal hygiene.
• Education is made compulsory for children so that they have opportunities to leave behind the squalor and poverty they grew up in.
• Smaller towns and villages are better linked by road to cities and larger towns where there are better medical facilities.
• Mobile medical services are introduced in remote villages so that diseases are diagnosed in the early stages and the need for emergency care and hospitalization is minimized.
• More emphasis is placed on preventive rather than curative care. When this happens and people are more aware of the need for preventive care through the right diet and regular exercise, healthcare begins to look up in any nation, developed or developing.

By-line:

This guest article is written by Teresa Jackson, she writes on the subject of online NP schools . She invites your questions, comments at her email address : teresa.jackson19@gmail.com.

Where every treatment has a happy ending!

Isn't it good to know that in a country ravaged by HIV - the spread of other nasties hasn't abated. What the hell kind of advertising is this (on William Nichol nogal)!?

"Finally a place where gentlemen can relax, knowing that every treatment has a happy ending."

What makes it even funnier for any local followers of billboards - is that this one is a direct adaption of the "Little Holland Escort Club". Same pic. Same sultry white panties.

Tut tut.

Major drug companies turn a blind eye to fake malaria medication!

Now here's a scary story...

The world's major drug companies have been accused of turning a blind eye to the multibillion-dollar trade in fake medicine that has resulted in an explosion of child malaria deaths in developing countries.

According to the British Independent newspaper, the problem has been particularly acute in Africa, with anti-malarial drugs faked on an industrial scale. One of the world's leading experts on malaria, Prof Nick White of Oxford University, estimates that malaria causes more than one million deaths each year of which 90% are children.

He said that counterfeit medicine was a major reason why malaria had become, over the past 30 years, Africa's biggest child killer, 'from an illness that used to be easily treated with medicines'.

Some of the fake drugs contain no medicine at all, but others have tiny traces of the real ingredients - which leads to another, potentially bigger problem as it allows the malaria parasite to build up resistance to the drug.

Read further here.

Hell's Teeth! What a catastrophe... especially in developing societies where there isn't enough money to correct the "mistakes" or alternatively sue the pants off the companies making these counterfeits. Me, I would kick them out of Africa - but there's no money for that even.

I can only begin to imagine what would happen if some idiot company started making counterfeit ARV's. We already have enough of a resistance problem.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 10% of medicines available in developing countries is fake with prevalence higher where regulatory control is weakest.

All of a sudden, I'm grateful that our Medicines Control Council (MCC) are such painful, pedantic regulators! What the hell is going on north of the border?