Outline the Factors Which Contribute to Low Health Expectancy in Developed Countries. Identify and Assess Possible Solutions to Reduce This Problem.
Outline the factors which contribute to low health expectancy in developed countries. Identify and assess possible solutions to reduce this problem.
Health expectancy is “the number of years a person can expect to live in good health”. (New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, 2010). It reflects concern about the quality of life. Furthermore, low health expectancy means that people live in poor health which is affected by diseases and disability. Many factors contribute to low health expectancy, including smoking and obesity. Society should pay more attention to solve these problems to increase health expectancy. This essay will outline the factors which lead to low health expectancy, and then discuss the possible solutions to reduce the problem.
First of all, it is obviously smoking is a factor leading to low health expectancy which is very common in developed countries. To begin with, smoking prevalence in European countries is 32% which is an extremely high number (WHO, 2012). In addition, there are some diseases caused by smoking is a well-known fact, such as lung disease and stroke. However, people aren’t aware that how serious it is the smoking problem affect to people’s health. In fact, WHO (2008, p. 14) points out “smoked tobacco in any form causes up to 90% of all lung cancers,” and a dozen different kinds of cancer and chronic disease are caused by smoking. To sum up briefly, smoking has a very serious impact on people’s health and life in developed countries.
Then, this problem could be solved by reducing smoking prevalence and improving people’s awareness of the risk of smoking. The solutions will focus on three aspects which are individual, tobacco industry and the government. Firstly, the solution for individual is quit smoking. Quit smoking is the direct effective way for smokers to increase health expectancy. According to WHO (2012), there are three-quarters of smokers want to quit smoking. However it is clearly that the number who quit
Health expectancy is “the number of years a person can expect to live in good health”. (New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, 2010). It reflects concern about the quality of life. Furthermore, low health expectancy means that people live in poor health which is affected by diseases and disability. Many factors contribute to low health expectancy, including smoking and obesity. Society should pay more attention to solve these problems to increase health expectancy. This essay will outline the factors which lead to low health expectancy, and then discuss the possible solutions to reduce the problem.
First of all, it is obviously smoking is a factor leading to low health expectancy which is very common in developed countries. To begin with, smoking prevalence in European countries is 32% which is an extremely high number (WHO, 2012). In addition, there are some diseases caused by smoking is a well-known fact, such as lung disease and stroke. However, people aren’t aware that how serious it is the smoking problem affect to people’s health. In fact, WHO (2008, p. 14) points out “smoked tobacco in any form causes up to 90% of all lung cancers,” and a dozen different kinds of cancer and chronic disease are caused by smoking. To sum up briefly, smoking has a very serious impact on people’s health and life in developed countries.
Then, this problem could be solved by reducing smoking prevalence and improving people’s awareness of the risk of smoking. The solutions will focus on three aspects which are individual, tobacco industry and the government. Firstly, the solution for individual is quit smoking. Quit smoking is the direct effective way for smokers to increase health expectancy. According to WHO (2012), there are three-quarters of smokers want to quit smoking. However it is clearly that the number who quit
References: Hammond, S.K. (2009). Global Patterns of Nicotine and Tobacco Consumption. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag New Zealand Ministry of Social Development. (2010). Health expectancy. Retrieved October 17, 2012 From: http://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/health/health-expectancy.html OECD. (2012). Obesity update 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2012. From the OECD website: http://www.oecd.org/els/healthpoliciesanddata/49716427.pdf WHO. (2012). Facts and figures. Retrieved October 17, 2012. From: http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/disease-prevention/tobacco/facts-and-figures. WHO. (2012). Obesity. Retrieved October 21, 2012. From: http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/obesity WHO. (2012). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved October 21, 2012 From the World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ WHO. (2008). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008: The MPOWER package. [Electronic version]. Geneva: World Health organization.