Low Health Expectancy

Low health expectancy continues to be a major problem of developing countries. The world health organization defines health expectancy as the average number of years that a person is expected to live in full health. This essay will argue that the main factors which contributes to low health expectancy in developing countries are malnutrition and environmental pollution and the possible solutions to this problem is eradicating poverty, improving health services and education on pollution and other substitutions to cooking with traditional stoves.

The first main factor that contributes to low health expectancy in developing countries is malnutrition. According to NHS (2011), malnutrition is a situation in which a person's diet does not contain enough nutrients. WHO (2011), claims that malnutrition in developing world is a major health problem. CMAJ (2005), states that 815 million people out of 852 million people who are malnourished live in third world countries especially sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. One of the major causes of malnutrition is unbalanced diet, poverty, unavailability of food, and micro-nutrient or protein deficiency. According to malnutrition (n.d), poverty and food unavailability is the main cause of malnutrition in both adults and children and can influence their physical and mental strength and therefore impede their efficiency in life. Furthermore, according to NHS (2011) the effects of malnutrition on the body include loss of weight, drowsiness, and weakness of the muscle.

One possible solution to the problem of malnutrition is eradicating poverty and providing health services in developing countries. For example sub Saharan African countries have a low economy and poor health services in the rural areas which increase the risk of malnutrition. According to WHO (2011) poverty causes ill-health because it forces people to live in environments without the basic amenities of life i.e. dirty water, no shelter and poor sanitation. Providing health services can help to fight illness and malnutrition. According to UNICEF (2000) government and non-government organisations can come together to provide health services and vaccines to the rural areas. In addition, providing free health care and check services helps to reduce malnutrition. The world health organisation (2011) also highlights that adequate provision of food and health education also help to reduce the risk of malnutrition.

The second main factor which contributes to low health expectancy in third world countries is environmental pollution. Water and air pollution is a major factor of low health expectancy in developing countries. For example in sub-Saharan Africa the level of water pollution is relatively high due to pollution from industries and human related causes. According to waterencyclopedia (2011), the causes of water pollution include animal and human waste. Furthermore, water bodies are used for dumping of refuse and human waste which leads to dirty and unhygienic water which then leads to impurity of the water. According to icwc (2000), human waste can increase the level of bacteria and virus in the water which leads to serious health implications. (Ibid.) states that "water pollution is a serious