Step 1 Why do poor countries have a predominance of infectious diseases as opposed to the lifestyle-related diseases of wealthy countries?

What is your response to the global health inequalities that exist?

Step 2 In my travels returning to Vietnam to visit relatives and to rekindle my culture, heritage and to some extent my identity I would frequently stay with my aunty. She was a medical professional who had her own home clinic treating people, I could vividly reminisce many experiences that occurred there. These experiences, in conjunction with the factors from Willis sociological imagination template are what Im going to use to reflect upon this topic. We are all bound by the cultural and structural institutions that are set up, and this was never more evident to me than in my stay with my Aunty. I would always notice that during my stay I noticed that the patients with infectious diseases such as typhoid, cholera and to the common cold would never return to the exact time that was ever appointed. I later found out that the reason why, given the socioeconomic structure that exists in the working class people who live on five dollars a day. It is nearly impossible to frequently go see a doctor as the medicine would consume so a lot of their earnings. This also due to the societal structure that exists in working class male in Vietnam, where they have low paying manual labour jobs and the females stay home look after the children and other domestic duties. In Vietnamese culture the biomedical model of health is deemed as unnatural and sometimes seek traditional alternatives that may be ineffective against treating disease, such as oils and other practices. In contrast to the wealthier countries such as Australia where healthcare is available, I noticed the difference in the structural institutions that exist, for example the role women have, where they have full time jobs. This along with the quick pace we are all in causes us to not have

time to have home cooked meals and it has become to socially accepted norm to eat out all the time. In my observation of western society, cultural factors could be when gathering with friends it is the social convention to sometimes drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. Accumulative consumption of this has detrimental effects on our health and can cause lifestyle related diseases due to an improper diet, such as obesity, diabetes or liver failure.

Step 3 My reflection on the predominance of infectious diseases in poor countries in contrast to the lifestyle related diseases in wealthy countries has been deepened by the functionalist approach to for the reasoning for the discrepancies in health issues. The video by Hahn (2011) further expanded my original thoughts on this topic, where he explained the functionalism works to preserve itself as a society. This concept correlated with my experiences with the working class Vietnamese family, where the breadwinner could persevere with the illness without medical intervention. Illness disrupts the normal functioning of society (Germov, 2009) because being sick would require medical intervention and time out of work to see a medical professional. This is deemed as a failure in terms of fulfilling ones role in society, more specifically the family. There could be latent dysfunctions that could arise from the processes that keep the society in motion (Hahn, 2011). The biomedical model of health has unintended dysfunctions such as the continual dependence of drugs to cure illnesses and the unintended consequence could be the increase of cost of living for the poorer people. In my observations of western society involving health, there is no predominance of infectious disease due to the easy access for affordable medical care. In contrast to poorer countries people in wealthier countries are obligated to play the sick role where they are expected to behave the way patients should behave (Germov, 2009). In western society, people are obliged to be a part of the society, and with

western society's quick pace lifestyle and lack of make food, the concept of fast food and frozen processed foods makes way for diseases that arrive from eating disorders such as diabetes and cardiac disorders. This consumption of food could also be due to functionalist concept of playing the consumer role in the capitalist society to stimulate the economy and this could cause over eating. We could also sometimes be expected to take part in leisurely activities, as part of western culture and take part in the social convention of drinking in celebration as well as smoking in gatherings, this behaviours leads to the decay of health due to lifestyle choices people of wealthier countries tend to make. Step 4 I found from personal experience that lifestyle choices and circumstances played a pivotal role in the different poor health seen in the contrasting populations. When travelling away from the urban areas of Vietnam and more towards the rural areas I noticed the substandard living conditions that people were living in. People would use water that was running down the street side for everyday uses such as cleaning and even drinking. The people living in the rural areas would live in unhygienic conditions where the sewerage system would be above ground where airborne bacteria thrive. Basic knowledge of hygiene such as washing hands or drinking unsanitary drinking water was not known to people living in the area which could be a main reason as to why there is a predominance of infectious diseases. I know this is not only evident in rural areas of Vietnam, in many countries, the causes of infectious diseases are rooted in areas such as sanitation and water supply, environmental, malnutrition and housing (WHO). The WHO went on to say that poverty and malnutrition are other key factors that affect health. Malnutrition is particularly lethal in combination with infectious diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, measles and diarrhoea. These infectious diseases are not common in wealthier countries because of the health care system that is available for the people. Wealthier countries can afford to spend more money on health care unlike developing

countries, on that point, I agree with the points Benatar, Gill and Bakker (2011) make when they say that global health depends on obtaining economic redistribution, caring social institutions for essential health care and education which is practically non-existent in poorer countries. As opposed to infectious diseases that occur in developing countries, wealthier countries, usually western countries are prone to lifestyle diseases such as obesity or diabetes. These diseases could be caused from improper diet; a combination of economic and social factors contributes to these dietary changes. One factor is relative food prices, over twenty years, global prices of edible oils, animal-based products, and sweeteners have been declined. (Nugent, 2008) This is clearly evident to me with the commercials seen frequently in the media where they bombard the public with the concept that fast food is the cheaper alternative. The social factor is seen in the western context of always needing to be on the go and the need for efficiency in our lives. On the other hand, recreational activities people do could also be damaging to our health, like alcohol liver disease. It has long been known that many lifestyle factors are associated with alcohol liver disease. The list includes smoking, a diet high in fat, malnutrition, concomitant medication, and obesity (Gastroenterol, 2007). It is common in western culture to drink in commemoration or for celebration of an event. Gatherings would commonly serve alcohol, and is instilled in our culture to drink and this lifestyle would lead to prominence of lifestyle diseases like alcohol liver disease. In comparison between poorer countries against wealthier countries it seems that inequality does not occur or the concept does not seem to exist.

Step 5 My reflections on the topic of the global health inequalities helped me to develop ACU Graduate Attributes 4, to think critically and reflectively. When doing my reflective writing piece, I have gathered many academic sources in conjunction with my own personal

experience, as well as developed opinions on this topic it has helped me think critically. By doing an analysis on this topic I became aware of the global health inequalities that exist, through this I was able to think reflectively and voice my opinion which will help me in my future as a health care professional. Conclusion Throughout my reflective writing piece I was able to use academic literature in collaboration with my own personal experiences to analyse the topic. I found that the main reason for the predominance of infectious diseases in poorer countries is the substandard living conditions, poor nutrition and a lack of education on disease prevention. Unlike wealthier countries where all this is present, the overindulgent lifestyle that exists in western culture could lead to health problems. The lifestyle of people in poorer countries is to maintain their lifestyle, whereas peoples lifestyles in wealthier countries are more recreational than for maintaining a stable lifestyle. I feel the resultant global health inequalities that result is very unfair for those who struggle to maintain their way of life.