The global under-five mortality rate declined by more than half, dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1000 live births between 1990 and 2015 (Cite UN). Between 2000 and 2013, measles vaccination helped prevent 15.6 million deaths. However, 16,000 children under-five still continue to die everyday from preventable causes, and the agenda for MDG4 is far from finished (cite UN). Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. In 2014, skilled health personnel assisted more than 71% of births, which was an increase from 59% in 1990.
In the United States 2,193,798 people are held in Federal prisons, local prisons and local/county jails. In local prisons 64.2 % of the inmates have a mental illness, 56.2 % in Federal prisons and 44.8 % in state prisons. Most of the inmates could have prevented their stay at the prisons if they were provided help for their illness, however they were not and they still have to serve their sentenced time. The inmates locked up are abused daily by other inmates or even the officers in charge. They cannot help they have illness and it is not fair that they have to suffer a punishment worse than they already have to.
Falls are recognized as one of the most common geriatric issues that causes problems and jeopardizes the self-reliability of elders. 30-40% of individuals over 65 years of age fall yearly, this percentage is higher for nursing home occupants. Falls can be related to increased morbidity, mortality, and nursing home placement. Over 1800 nursing home occupants die from falls yearly. Even though only 5% of individuals over 65 live in nursing homes, this small number accounts for 20% of fall-related deaths for this age group (“Strategies for Reducing Falls”).
“Intellectual disability or mental retardation is one of the most common disabilities” (Harbour). In the 1930’s, the mentally handicapped were not given a good reputation. In Of Mice and Men, we learn that Lennie Small is mentally handicapped, and by seeing how the mentally handicapped were treated in mental hospitals, how they lived their everyday life, and their denial of rights, their lives were both similar and different to Lennie’s in the 1930’s. How the mentally handicapped were treated in mental hospitals often depended on how much money the family had and was willing to pay for the care of a family member who was mentally handicapped. Across America, mental health care was usually underfunded.
In 2008 the breakdown for adults under correctional control was as follows: one out of 18 men, one in 89 women, one in 11 African-Americans (9.2 percent), one in 27 Latinos (3.7 percent), and one in 45 Caucasians (2.2 percent). Since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled in part due to the mandatory sentencing on drug convictions. The rate of non-violent crimes have been on the decline and only about 7.9 of federal inmates and in prison for violent crimes. The Bureau of Justice Statistics also repots in a 2002 study that out of 275,000 prisoner that were released in 1994 67.5% were rearrested within 3 years and 51.8% were back in prison. With the growth of the prison population incarceration has become a multi-billion dollar industry.
One of the main issues America face now a days within correctional institutions is affordable and proper health care for the inmates. The millions of inmates in the U.S. correctional institutions have high rates of communicable diseases, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, tuberculosis, hepatitis B virus infection, and gonorrhea. Before many of the inmates were incarcerated, most inmates had limited access to healthcare, which, together with poor compliance and lifestyle situations, it made it difficult to identify and treat within the general community. Providing health care to inmates of prisons and jails may provide the opportunity to control the spread of certain communicable diseases. Communicable diseases are common among approximately 1.2 million inmates in U.S. prisons and jails.
Poor people make up the overwhelming majority of those behind bars as 53% of those in prison earned less than $10,000 per year before incarceration. At the end of the day poverty is a major cause of social tensions, which can divide a nation because of these issues.
This has been addressed through treating mental health issues ... ... middle of paper ... ... is apparent that it is still an issue the UNODC (2014) state that healthcare in prisons is still generally understaffed and under-resourced due to the rise of the prison population. Additionally, other issues arise within overcrowded prisons such as poor quality food, clothes and bedding (The Council of Europe 2000; Great Britain: Parliament: Joint Committee on Human Rights 2008). A briefing carried out by the Prison Reform Trust in 2013 found that high populated prisons increase opportunities for inmates to access illegal drugs. This can also instigate assaults between inmates and staff. Furthermore, it was discovered that there are limited facilities for inmates after prison.
Patients cannot afford the medicine or the costs of the health centers; nonetheless, the treatment is very expensive although it does not provide the needed and effective treatment and care to the patient. Furthermore, as directed by Kaiser Family Foundation in 2001 that constant racial and ethnic differences also have an impact on the quality of health care provided to the citizens. Studies showed that fifty-five percent of the black citizens receive poor medical healthcare than the white, depending on the do... ... middle of paper ... ...rieved from http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2009/08/21-bpc-qualityreport 12. Nguyen, N. (2009, August). Improving quality and value in the u.s. health care system.
"Everyone is looking at it," said Geri Moon, the New Jersey Hospital By 2020, there will be 20 percent fewer nurses than are necessary to staff hospitals, nursing homes, school infirmaries and other health institutions throughout the United States. The World Health Organization last year said the shortages amounted to a global staffing crisis. New Jersey Colleagues in Caring predicts a 30 percent shortfall of registered nurses in the Garden State - or a deficit of 24,100 by 2020. "I think the most recent survey that we did found 168, 000 nursing positions for which hospitals are recruiting and trying to fill, but are unable to do so with domestically trained nurses because the schools are not graduating them in the numbers they did 20 or 30 years ago," said Carla Luggiero, senior associate director of federal relations with the American Hospital Association. Health systems say the shortage is not affecting patient care, although some nurses' organizations say it does.