Happy World Health Day

I only literally found out today that it's World Health Day, as I saw a post on my Facebook feed. Everybody knows that there are rich and poor countries throughout the World, and that health varies within a country. 

This is interesting to me, both as a person who has studied Geography and as a person with disabilities.  

Today was also the first time I'd been on the World Health Organization's website. The headlines that  jumped out at me were "measure your blood pressure, reduce your risk" " improve maternal health" "combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases" "reduce child mortality" "FAQs for influenza". All common health issues the world over. 

I saw also that there is to be a tobacco ban at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  Not that I like football at all, but I really can't take being in places where people smoke. I've known people who smoke, and I have to say I think it's a very expensive and dangerous habit. I never have smoked and never will. When I'm in an area where people smoke, I get a headache easily and the smoke makes my chest feel tight as it makes me cough. At least there are more laws being passed so people can't smoke in public areas. 

Looking on the website also got me thinking about subjects that interested me at University and still do, such as infant mortality (the number of children who die in a particular country or region before their first birthday) . A fact sheet about newborns on the WHO website has these as it's key  facts: 

Every year, nearly 40% of  deaths in children under five are amongst babies, within the first 28 days of  life , or the neonatal period.  Three quarters of all infant deaths occur in the first week of life. 

In developing countries, nearly half of all mothers and newborns don't receive appropriate care during or after birth. Up to two thirds of newborn deaths can be prevented if the correct measures are provided during birth and the first week of life. 

The guidelines given for sick newborns are that they  are hospitalised and that low birthweight babies should be kept warm and closely monitored. 

In my case, I was lucky to have the care and support I needed, as was my twin sister Natalie until she died. I always tell myself how lucky I was to have been born in the UK, a developed country. I've often talked to Alfredo about the possibility I'd have survived had I been born in Lima. He tells me there are good hospitals there and good doctors. He also has told me that shunts for hydrocephalus  are, in many cases, shipped from the USA to South America, and that there are people who are lucky and those who aren't so lucky. He knew a lady who had a little girl with untreated hydrocephalus who died before she could get a shunt sent from thee USA, let alone fitted. I remember how I felt when he told me this, shocked and sad. I then thought how lucky I am, to have a working shunt (for now: that said, it's been ok for 20  years) . I had flashbacks of everything I went through when my shunt failed or fractured and all the time I spent in hospital. 

The WHO estimates 15% of the world's population have "some form of disability" and "2-4%  of those have significant difficulty in functioning". It talks about the first eve WHO World Bank Report on disability which addresses the measurement of disability, and then health, rehabilitation, assistance
 and support  , enabling environments, assistance and support. 

I've downloaded the report and will talk about it in another blog post, as it is quite long. 

Something else Alfredo told me was that he'd seen people in Peru who didn't have enough money to buy a wheelchair or other equipment. They either were housebound or made makeshift wheelchairs. He once told me he saw a lady using a regular chair like a walking frame , pushing it in front of her as she walked. Or of a lady who's son had cerebral palsy and who had leg braces and couldn't walk. She carried him on her back to and from school each day until he grew and was able to use crutches. 

I'm always interested in those TV programmes you see about health problems in other countries. Health even comes into Geography - it's called Medical Geography. I remember studying things like the distribution of certain illnesses in the world, or the battle to treat an illness. In terms of TV shows, I liked the episodes of ER ( such as Chaos Theory in Season 9) where the Dr Kovac and Dr Carter were working in Africa. 

That said, there is so much that needs to be done in the world on a large scale and a small scale for health improvements to be made.