Correlations/Crosslinks - Health
From Bertelsmann Future Challenges
Demographic Change: In general, the healthier people are, the longer they will live. Thus better healthcare and leading a healthy lifestyle does indeed contribute to the ageing of societies. In almost all parts of the world life expectancy is rising, although some African countries see only a marginal increase. The countries of the former Soviet Union are the only countries in the world in which life expectancy is actually decreasing.
Climate Change: No effect.
Natural Resources and Biodiversity: No effect.
Security and Anti-Terror Policy: Two health issues have been influencing security policy: infectious diseases (mainly HIV/AIDS, SARS and tuberculosis) and bio-terror. Some countries, such as the US and the UK, explicitly mention these threats in their foreign policy strategy and try to protect their domestic security through better public health systems. Outbreaks of infectious diseases are also seen as a threat to regional stability. Countries such as Canada realize this and aim at strengthening health systems in developing country as part of their security policy.
New Governance Mechanisms and Political Decision Making: Unfortunately, health does not have much of an impact on policy-making in supranational organizations. It is not very often that policy in the EU is made in favor of public health as the interests of industry frequently outweigh those of public health, as can be seen in the recent decision not to introduce food labeling. The same is true for the free trade agreements of the WTO, with the TRIPS agreement regulating patents on pharmaceuticals and the GATS agreement regulating (health) services. From a public health point of view, far too often free trade is given a higher priority than (or overrides) public health concerns.
Economic Globalization: Infectious diseases do not stop at borders. They have lead to more cooperation between states, especially as the SARS and H1N1 influenza pandemics have shown that infectious diseases have the power to disrupt the world economy, and can only be stopped when countries work together.
Migration: The exact impact of health on migration is difficult to gauge. A poor health system may be one of many reasons that influence someone´s decision to migrate to another country. People who have a disease for which they cannot be treated in their home country might also be motivated to move to a place where they can obtain treatment.
Technology: Innovative technology is more often than not key to solve toughest health problems. They have led to many creative solutions such as the lab-on-a-chip, online psychotherapy or telemonitorin. Other examples are mobile phones replacing old malaria detection methods: point-of-care smartphone applications to address child mortality rates caused by the lack of detection and availability of treatment for malaria.
Education: The health status of people is strongly related to their level of education. However, the health status of children and adolescents also impacts on their ability to learn and benefit from education. When a child has a bad health status, this is reinforced via education. For example, children who often miss school will find it harder to do as well in exams as healthy children.
