Reply to DB Post

Living in the United States it is easy to turn our heads to poverty, lack of education, and disease; as most Americans can go about their daily lives and not see any major side effects of poverty. The truth is that two thirds of the world lives in a developing country, which experiences these things every single day. This is an eye-opening statistic to read. Choosing developing countries as a key term allows me the chance to look into some of the causes and characteristics of why these countries are they way that they are, and why two thirds of the world is under developed instead of developing developed.

Explanation of Key Term

A developing nation is a nation with the label of low economic status; these countries are not making any advancement as their populations grow, and other countries of the world advance. There are many factors that contribute to the status of a country. Some of the most recognizable factors are poverty, disease, and lack of education, malnutrition, political instability, as well as political corruption. Every year there is large amounts of money and resources that is allocated to assist these countries. But with so many barriers present, it will take significantly more help, and more resources to make a noticeable difference in the number of developing and under developed countries around the world.

Major Article Summary

Syed, S. B., Dadwal, V., Rutter, P., Storr, J., Hightower, J. D., Gooden, R., . . . Pittet, D. (2012). Developed-developing country partnerships: Benefits to

developed countries?Globalization and Health, 8(1), 17-17. doi:10.1186/1744-8603-8-1

Syed, Dadwal, Storr, Hightower, Gooden, and Pittet created an article that discusses a very important area concerning developing countries, healthcare. But with this study on health care it is not only what can developing countries learn from developed countries; but also what can already developed countries learn from the developing countries.

When researching the downfalls or shortcomings of developing or third world countries it is easy to point out what they are doing wrong, what they are lacking, and what they need to do to become successful. But these countries are not doing everything wrong, in fact there are some things that they do better, or have significantly improved on without the help of developed countries.

The first area that was researched was service delivery. In healthcare service delivery is currently a huge initiative, everywhere you turn there is a push to decrease barriers, whether it be gender, cultural, gender, or financial; it is expected that all individuals are accommodated. In many developed countries the use of clinic and medications are used on a regular basis. In developing countries where medical clinics and medication are not always readily available this use of health houses, and village health workers are utilized; these workers use more holistic and alternative medication practices to help will illness.

With the shortage of healthcare workers some developing countries have taken a path to train mid-level providers to complete emergency procedures. They are also training lay workers on pre-hospital treatment to help save lives. It is the belief that there are many underutilized health care workers in developed countries, and taking some ideas from developing countries could help developed countries expands their reach to rural areas with no care.

If there is one area that under developed countries are light years behind developed countries it is IT or information technology. Where developed countries have streamlines health care with things like electronic health records and regulatory agencies, there are ways to ensure that individuals are receiving the care that is expected in healthcare. With that being said there are low-tech check systems that have been put in place in counties like Africa to ensure that non-counterfeit medications have been received before they are distributed. It is a cloud based cell phone service where a message can be send to the distributor to ensure that it is not counterfeit medications.

Each of these things along with others listed in this article show the importance of not discounting either way of living. While the developing countries have the need for many advancements, training, supplies, and help when it come to advancing their countries. Developed countries can learn a lot from the adjustments that the non- developed countries have made to take care of the individuals living there.

Discussion

1. Developing countries make up two thirds of the worlds population. While there are many things that make up shortcomings of developing nations, one of the top concerns is health of the individuals living there. Shortfalls in medicine allow widespread disease and sickness, greatly diminishing the life expectancy of the residents in these third world countries. Without individuals to work and run businesses there can be no business, infrastructure, or government. Educating healthcare workers, creating buildings to provide care, and providing the correct equipment and medications to give this care is pertinent to the survival of these countries.

2. The remaining articles listed on my reference page look at other areas that need attention in developing countries. First climate change, this is on the radar for countries all over the world. For example it will be especially important for developing countries to receive education and resources appropriate to their region to ensure that things like crops and livestock are safe. Other measure may need to be taken to prepare or prevent other climate changes.

Next area when looking to develop these developing countries there are many things that must be considered. For example starting a business in one of these regions companies must look at developing, monitoring, and supplying business and products produced in these areas. To build on that there must be individuals hired and trained to run these companies. All of these items are hard to do when most of the resources are on the other side of the word in most cases. While helping these countries become developed is vital to there survival in some cases, there must be large amounts of planning so that they are successful and the resources and aide send to them is not wasted.

References

Mertz, O., Halsnæs, K., Olesen, J. E., & Rasmussen, K. (2009). Adaptation to climate change in developing countries. Environmental Management, 43(5), 743-752. doi:10.1007/s00267-008-9259-3

Akamp, M., & Müller, M. (2011;2013;). Supplier management in developing countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 56, 54. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.11.069

Bruhn, M., Karlan, D., & Schoar, A. (2010). What capital is missing in developing countries?The American Economic Review, 100(2), 629-633. doi:10.1257/aer.100.2.629