Infectious diseases are now the world's biggest killer of children and young adults. They account for more than 13 million deaths a year - one in two deaths in developing countries. Over the next hour alone, 1 500 people will die from an infectious disease - over half of them children under five (WHO, 1999). The main causes of these deaths from infectious diseases occur in developing countries - the countries with the least money to spend on health care. Instead of this, in wealthy countries people are suffering from non-communicable diseases, just because of their illness related behaviour.Non communicable diseases are the top cause of death worldwide, killing more than 36 million people in 2008. Cardiovascular diseases were responsible for 48% of these deaths, cancers 21%, chronic respiratory diseases 12%, and diabetes 3% (WHO, 2011). This health inequality effects not just how people live, but often dictates how and at what age they die. In this essay I would like to reflect upon the main causes, preventions about all diseases whether it is infectious or lifestyle related diseases, and my response to the global health inequalities that is existing.

According to Willi (2004) the sociological imagination consist of four interrelated parts:1) Historical factors, 2) Cultural factors, 3) Structural factors, and 4) Critical factors. I would like to explain historical factors in relation of my topic. I am born and grew up in Asian region, there People are likely to try native remedies because they cannot afford to go to regular doctors. Lack of education is another teething trouble; there is a lower level of awareness because of the lack of education among people. They do not know how to prevent the spread of disease, and even if they are taught how to do it, they do not have access to basic sanitation facilities like clean toilets, which makes it hard for them to practice the hygiene required to stop the spread of infectious diseases. Sometimes people in poor nations are suffering from these diseases just because of their religious practices under cultural factors. In Broom and Tovey’s(2007) research, cancer patients talked about who accesses which treatment in their community and why: Most of the people go to doctors; basically it is the matter of money. The wealthy people go to doctors and poor people go to Hakeems. (Male, 12 years, diagnosis unclear). If I am talking about structural factors, being a part of Asian region, I observed that the population is large and growing by the second, lack of clean drinking water and food that is not infected a situation that makes it difficult to prevent the rapid spread of infectious diseases.Poor nations are not able to put in place a system to check the spread of diseases because they lack the means to check the existence and growth of disease-bearing organisms like mosquitoes and other parasites. In rural areas or some situation there may be no doctors and nurses available (Germov, 2009). Poor nations don’t have much money or the right infrastructure in place to spend on healthcare for their low-income citizens who do not have the resources to take care of their medical needs. This makes the situation worse.

I have read U.S. global health policy survey on U.S. role in global health, this survey helps me to deep in my knowledge about how other countries are thinking and helping the poor nations. How they gather funds to fight against these communicable and non-communicable diseases and the improvement of infrastructure for developing countries. The Kaiser Family Foundation Survey on the U.S. Role in Global Health Update; the survey tracks some questions about specific areas of global health. The U.S. public continues to support maintaining or increasing spending on global health. Despite the continuing economic recession, the U.S. is spending too little or about the right amount on efforts to improve health for people in developing countries, some people say we are currently spending too much in this area. Large majorities of people say that U.S. foreign aid includes spending on preventing and treating disease, health system improvement, military assistance and general infrastructure improvement in developing countries. U.S. is spending on specific health measures in developing countries, such as preventing and treating HIV, malaria and tuberculosis and improving access to clean water. In poor countries, lack of funds and poverty are the biggest cause of these infectious diseases, they have least money to spend on health care system as I have discussed above, U.S. global health policy would helps them to the direct control on their health sector.

Everybody have a right of good health, fresh air and pure water. Without it, people cannot survive on earth. I have read some journals, articles and reports related with my topic, I realized poverty, lack of education and over population are the main cause of infectious diseases in poor nations. But in wealthy nation people getting non-communicable diseases just because of their unhealthy lifestyle. Cooper, Katy ; Hancock, Christine stated, One million people a week are moving to cities, where they are often less physically active. They also have easier access to tobacco and cheap, unhealthy food. These lifestyle transitions are driving rapid rises in non communicable diseases (NCDs). Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, many cancers and chronic lung disease end up removing breadwinners from the workforce for years. Eradicating diseases in poor countries must be a priority, say Katy Cooper and Christine Hancock. In this journal their main focus on non-communicable diseases should become the next focus of the United Nations’ aims to reduce poverty in developing countries.

Poor health achievers and their low income per head create huge global health inequality between wealthy and poor nations. In wealthy countries, people have more income by per capita as comparison of people in poor nation. This inequality in income also affects the health of people in rich or poor countries. People of poor nation have less money to spend on healthcare, and they are not getting proper diet and pure water. This makes big gap between life expectancy of people in poor nation with people of wealthy countries. I would like to support my reflection with journal of Jong-wong L. Inequalities scar the world’s health landscape ( Jong-wook L, dec 20, 2003). World health report 2003—shaping the future reveals that a baby born today in Afghanistan is 75 times more likely to die before age 5 years than a child born in Iceland or Singapore. Life expectancy at birth in Sierra Leone is less than half that in Japan. The most urgent objectives include the health-related Millennium Development Goals, the 3 by 5 target in HIV/AIDS treatment (to provide 3 million people in developing regions with access to antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005), and addressing the growing epidemics of non-communicable diseases. The key to achieving these objectives is strengthening of health systems guided by the values of Health for all.

Communicable and non-communicable diseases are not just a part of poor nations, if infectious diseases are growing in poor countries then lifestyle related diseases are increasing day by day in wealthy nations. So this is common problem for both nations. There are many ways, we can control over these diseases. Immunization should be affordable or free in poor nation. Use of low-cost vaccines could prevent 1.6 million deaths a year among children under the age of five. Yet today, one in five children are still not fully immunized against the six major killer diseases: diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, measles and TB (WHO report, 1999). In poor nation, the government should take a step to control over population. Create the awareness to the masses about nuclear family, this will helps to prevent the rapid spread of infectious diseases and easy to control over communicable diseases. Other reason of infectious diseases, lack of education in poor nations, people are still unaware from the causes of these diseases. The World Health Organization has developed low-cost strategies based on clinical practice but due to lack of awareness people are still far away from these strategies. The government of poor countries and World health organization should start some program to help those people who are not using these strategies just because they are unaware and uneducated. As we know that it is hard to cure the chronic illness and disabilities, but people in wealthy countries are suffering from non communicable diseases, because of their unhealthy lifestyle such as smoking, drug taking, excess alcohol consumption, low physical activity and poor dietary intake. For healthy life people should leave unhealthy lifestyle behavior.

At last, I would like to say that poverty, lack of education, bad working conditions and unhealthy lifestyle behavior are the main causes of global health inequality. To reduce overall rate of inequality, people should be educated and to be encouraged for healthy lifestyle. With the help of safe work place living and working conditions should be improved.