Health Disparities In Developing Countries

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Health care has always been a debatable and controversial topic worldwide. One would think universal provided health care would be vital to sustain human life, but there are more people in the world that face and battle adversity with health care than those who can actually afford health care. Health care is important not only for oneself, but it plays a role in reducing increasing health disparities such as maternal mortality rates, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, etc. The World Health Organization reported that approximately 150 million people per year suffer from cost of health-care; and 100 million people worldwide live below the poverty line. Even if they can afford the bare minimum health coverage, not everyone who live in low income countries have accessibility to a doctor or hospital every time. These few factors are among the many that stress upon the seriousness of health disparity that people worldwide suffer everyday. The World Health Organization points out that today, there is a 36 year old gap between countries, which can be archived from socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, income, etc. Health disparities are …show more content…
In Nepal, maternal and newborn mortality rate is significant. According to a 2015 survey by UNICEF, of the 1,600 babies born daily, approximately 34 babies will die each day before reaching their first month. The World Bank also reported that of the mothers themselves, 1 out of 6 women ages 20-24 has given birth when they were 18. The age of the mother is a significant factor when it comes to the health of the newborn because the younger the mother, the higher rate of premature births. The neonatal mortality rate (NMR) among young mothers is 1.4 times greater than mothers of 20 years of age and older. UNICEF (2015) reported that of all the main causes of neonatal