The Impact of Globalization on Human Health in the United States
The USA, like any other country in the world, is significantly impacted by globalization trends in all aspects of human life. One of the most affected areas is nutrition and health as two co-dependent elements. Indeed, as indicated by Cuevas Garcia-Dorado, Cornselsen, Smith, and Walls (2019), the prevalence of non-communicable diseases in high-, middle-, and low-income countries is caused by unhealthy dietary and malnutrition of the population.
The root cause of the health problems lies in the rising trends of globalizing economics. The openness of trade and international exchange of products and information leads to changing cultures and nutrition patterns. Consequently, convenience stores and supermarkets become more available, and semi-processed foods containing cheap calories become more popular, thus causing obesity and associated diseases (UNICEF, 2019). Thus, globalization alters dietary culture in the USA, persuades people to refuse from traditional meals and lean toward unhealthy food choices that cause health problems.
The Impact of Global Travel and Medical Tourism on Health Status Globally
With the emergence of globalization trends and more extensive international ties, global travel and medical tourism have become more frequent. The trends in traveling to different countries impose significant concerns about infectious diseases transmitted from one territory to another. Under such circumstances, there are fewer cases of local health problems, but rather more often, diseases occur on a global scale.
This means that globalization endangers the health of the world’s community by enabling more frequent and close interaction between people from all over the world. As for the issue of medical tourism, it imposes an array of health-related concerns from the perspective of national health care systems. As a specific type of traveling by which people use the opportunities of globalization to seek better medical service options in facilities outside their domestic health care systems, medical tourism causes health inequality (Beland, & Zarzeczny, 2018). Since the services for non-residents are more expensive, health care providers tend to prioritize non-domestic patients, thus neglecting the health concerns of the residents.
Disparity in Spending on Health in Different Populations
Due to the differences in the economic development of different countries, their populations are exposed to varying levels of spending on health. When comparing the financing of health care in the underdeveloped countries of Africa with that of the USA, one might refer to the globally relevant trends introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has been observed that low-income countries’ health care spending is more reliant on the private sector than in the public sector. In contrast, high-income countries’ governments allocate more public financing for health (WHO, 2019). Although both populations are exposed to a higher level of spending on severe disease treatment, there is a disparity in the overall level of government funding of health care programs.
“Responsiveness” of Health Programs and Services in the Two Populations
The disparity in access to health care services and the overall quality of such in the populations from underdeveloped African countries and the US middle-income population depends on the countries’ health programs and initiatives. Indeed, the “responsiveness” of low-income countries’ health programs is characterized by a low level of social health insurance, while high- and middle-income countries demonstrate significantly higher (approximately 16-20%) level of health insurance (WHO, 2019). Also, since the spending health is also unequal when comparing the two populations, the array of curable health problems and the overall quality and accessibility of medical services varies accordingly.
References
Beland, D., & Zarzeczny, A. (2018). Medical tourism and national health care systems: an institutionalist research agenda. Globalization and Health, 14(68), 1-7.
Cuevas Garcia-Dorado, S., Cornselsen, L., Smith, R., & Walls, H. (2019). Economic globalization, nutrition and health: A review of quantitative evidence. Globalization and Health, 15(15), 1-19.
UNICEF. (2019). Children, food and nutrition: Growing well in a changing world. Web.
World Health Organization. (2019). Global spending on health: A world in transition. Web.