Some Questions In Health

Effects of Globalization on Health

With the rapid expansion of globalization and capitalism, income inequality has grown considerably. That process has been making access to healthcare services more difficult although the quality has been developing day by day. 

When we look at Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, It includes that 

"(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection." 

It can be said that this issue, which has been declared in human rights, has been carried out in developed countries, but it is not possible to say that there is progress in developing and lower countries. When we 

look at the Maslow Hierarchy, it is also a matter of debate on which part of the pyramid will be the access to health services for people and countries suffering from water and food shortages. First of all, I think it is more appropriate to place malnutrition, one of the factors that disrupt health, at the base of the pyramid for the poor countries. 

Another point is the qualified health workers who migrate from poor countries and developing countries to developed countries. Increasing opportunities with globalization forces people to migrate to developed countries for better business conditions. While this is good for developed countries, it makes it difficult for others to spread health access to the population. 

Last point is the industrialized environment that is moving very fast with globalization. This accelerates 

global warming and affect people's health and the health of the planet quite badly. In my opinion, in the future, access to health will become very difficult despite the development of technology, and I think the first effect will be mass deaths in African countries. 

As a result, the existence of a law in the universal declaration of human rights does not mean that this law is applied globally.

Importance of Social Determinants of Health on Individual Health Status

Based on Aristotle's statement that human beings are social animals, although there are different ideas, I will assume that the main purpose of that sentence is to express that the human being is an entity that affected and has to be affected by the environment. I can analyze the impact of social determinants on individual health under 5 different headings.

These five key areas (determinants) include:

• Economic Stability: I have examined the economy's access to public health and health services in the previous question. Conditions such as inflation and 

unemployment are the problems that a person may have in his / her country. Inflation, unemployment and other negative conditions reduce purchasing power and prevent access to health services and medicines. These negative conditions also have negative psychological effects. 

• Education: As the level of education decreases, information about health literacy, disease awareness and similar concepts also decreases. This adversely affects the health of individuals.

• Social and Community Context: An individual is not independent of the society in which he lives, and unfortunately, the society does not tend to accept every different individual. People suffer from discrimination and injustice because of their differences and tendencies (religion, race, nation, gender, etc.). This affects the health of the individual (especially mental well-being) negatively.

• Life Style: Everyone's lifestyle and preferences are different. For example; addictions (smoking, drugs, etc.), physical activities, etc. All these factors affect the health of the individual negatively or positively.

• Neighborhood and Built Environment: The crime rate in the surrounding area, the cleanliness of the city and the streets, and similar factors affect human health. 

Biotechnology on Health

In general, biotechnology is the manipulation of living organisms and organic materials that help meet our basic needs. Furthermore, biotechnology has some 

advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• For Resistant insects and so on and increasing productivity in agriculture, 

biotechnology has been used and it has reached the capacity to feed the growing 

human population.

• Environmental biotechnology is a system of science and engineering that is related to the use of microorganisms and their products to prevent, to treat, and to monitor the environmental pollution through bio treatment, bioremediation of polluted environments and bio monitoring of environmental and treatment processes.

• Biotechnology also produces eco-friendly product.

Disadvantages

Mostly ethical problems. Because artificiality is involved in the processes, it attracts the reactions of people who subscribe to naturality. In addition; 

• The genetic engineering uses viral vector to carry the functional genes into a human body. The consequences of the viral genes on the human body are not known. The functional genes might replace the other genes besides the mutated gene. This can also cause different form of disease to human.

• Loss of biodiversity is one of the dangers caused by genetic engineering.

Cagatay Caglayan