Globalization involves several features, including governance structures,
communication, mobility, technology, and the environment. Based on the readings for
this topic, identify two features of globalization that you think are the most important,
and discuss one example for each as to how it influences health. Identify a health issue
that was not a global threat in the past but, due to changes in globalization, is now a
global threat. Discuss what countries might do to prepare for this emerging health
threat, considering human rights in low-income and middle-income countries.
Globalization is the process of making the world interconnected in terms of cultural,
political, and economic activities. Mobility and technology are the most critical features of
the technology. This means that one has to move from one country, state, and continent to
another, where technology has made this possible freely.
Mobility has improved access to better and cheaper health care. According to Taylor
and Tribich (2019), patients choose to leave one country to another in search of affordable
and quality specialized healthcare. India, for instance, offers cardiac surgery, joint
replacement, and reconstructive surgery for significantly $25,000 less than the cost in the
United States of America. Another influence of mobility as a feature of globalization is that
the availability of medication and technologies, which is still experimental in one country and
not readily available in other countries, has increased medical tourism.
GLOBALIZATION 2
Technology has also influenced health. For instance, the human lifespan has
prolonged due to advances in medicine brought about by technology. Technology advances
have made it possible to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease.
HIV/Aids in the 1980s widely spread as a result of globalization. This was due to the
movement and contact of infected people from one geographical location to the other
resulting in the disease spreading globally (Taylor and Tribich, 2019). Corona Virus has also
spread globally as a result of globalization. The virus has spread throughout the world as a
result of free movement, which is now a global threat.
Everyone has a right to better health care, but most citizens in low and middle-income
countries do not have access to better health care (Taylor and Tribich, 2019). With Corona
Virus (COVID-19) being currently a global health threat, all countries across the globe
should put measures to prevent, treat, and diagnose disease in advance. This will ensure that
there are laid-down steps to curb the health threat for everyone across the globe when the
threat emerges.
GLOBALIZATION 3
Reference
Taylor, A. & Tribich, J. (2019). With growing globalisation comes the expectation of
common standards in managing health and safety risks especially.
Property Journal, 41-41.