Global Responsibility in Disease Control

Introduction

The prevention and control of disease is a global responsibility because it helps to set up an ideal healthcare system over the world where the global population is able to seek effective health and wellbeing in making better choices to lead their lives in a healthier way. It is also required so that through proper intervention the chronic and acute diseases can be eradicated or their incidence of occurrence can be reduced in the global context ensuring a better environment for living. In this essay, the international and cross-national challenges experienced in executing controlling and managing diabetes is to be discussed. Moreover, the extent of success reached and solution developed in global content to control diabetes is also to be explained. Additionally, healthcare dissertation help will be referenced to illustrate effective strategies. Lastly, a strategic management tool is to be used to provide an action plan in promoting good practice related to diabetes in the global content to tackle the health issue.

Cross-National and International challenges in control and management of diabetes

The difference in attitudes and beliefs regarding diabetes among various countries has created international and cross-national challenges to successfully control and manage diabetes. This is because each of the countries in the world has different attitudes and beliefs according to which they consider the context of the disease due to which it is difficult to develop effective holistic strategies in control of diabetes. It is evident as the people of the South Asian culture in Bangladesh and India often have lay understanding regarding diabetes where they inform that intake of increased sugar and western diets are key causes of the disease (Kumar et al. 2016). As mentioned by Imamura et al. (2015), intake of sugar is not directly related to the development of diabetes but the amount of calorie intake and body weight are the key responsible factors. This is because increased calorie intake more than the required amount through sugary and fatty foods results to increases the body weight of the individuals making them prone to get affected by diabetes. This fact is well-understood by the people in the Western countries as well as they understand that body weight, sugary foods and other factors are the key causative agents of the health issue (Horikawa and Sone, 2017). Thus, the lack of equal understanding regarding the cause of diabetes in the global context is creating international challenges to provide proper awareness regarding diabetes to successfully control and prevent it. The different lifestyle attitudes of population in the global context are creating international challenges in failure to controlling and management of diabetes. As mentioned by Nanditha et al. (2016), the people of the South Asian culture in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan often link lifestyle that promotes bulky or large body sizes is good for health. This is because they related thin image of the people as less healthy and diseased condition. As argued by Veldhuis et al. (2017), the people in Western countries such as the US, Australia, UK and others consider thin image of the people to be healthy. This is because they understand that increased body fat and high BMI rate are causes of diseased state. The increased body weight is directly related to the cause of diabetes because excess weight gain leads the muscles as well as tissue cells of the body to become insulin resistance leading to rise of high blood sugar level causing diabetes (Swerdlow et al. 2015). The study of Leiter et al. (2015) indicates that weight loss is also directly related to indicate that the person is suffering from diabetes. This is because the inability of the body cells to use glucose and response to insulin leads them being unable to produce the required energy for the body for its healthy maintenance creating sudden loss of weight. It indicates that thin people are also able to be suffering from diabetes and are not healthy in nature always. Thus, this lack of proper awareness regarding lifestyle and the difference in thoughts of relating body images towards being healthy is creating international and cross-border challenges in controlling diabetes. It has impacted on the global population to be unable to know that any nature of body weight is able to cause or indicate the presence of diabetes creating greater incidence of the disease due to lack of proper awareness (Chang et al. 2016).

The different level of education is creating international and cross-national challenges to face failure in control and preventing diabetes. As asserted by Fatema et al. (2017), majority of the poor countries such as Bangladesh, Africa, Mongolia and others have reduced the level of health education or any form of literacy among the population. This is because the economic conditions of the individuals are poor in most cases in these countries where they do not have proper facility or financial ability to access proper health education and literacy. As argued by Yang et al. (2018), in western and other developed countries such as India, China and others it is seen that the level of education is high. This means more people are educated and aware about the chronic diseases they are able to face as well as have knowledge regarding the way to manage the condition and issues. However, in these countries, there are many poor populations who are gain not educated or have any awareness regarding chronic diseases such as diabetes (Creamer et al. 2016). Thus, the different level of education among the countries as well as within countries is creating a challenge in the international context of facing confusion regarding the way to promote awareness about diabetes globally to properly control and manage the health issue.

The language barrier is another international and cross-national challenge faced that fails in controlling and managing diabetes in the global content. As mentioned by Horigan et al. (2017), language is one of the key factors in effective awareness regarding any diseases. This is because language is the method of human communication and interaction that consist of words to deliver information regarding health and others to be well-understood by the individuals to make them aware and prevent health issues. In the South Asian and African countries, it is seen that wide number of languages are being spoken and many individuals are seen to be unable to understand the information in English. However, in Western countries, it is seen that English is the official language and is known by all (Edwards et al. 2016). Thus, the differences in languages create challenges in international context to control diabetes because the information to be delivered to create awareness regarding the disease to control it needs to be developed in various languages which may not always be possible. This impact on to create hindrance and challenge in successful promotion of health awareness related to diabetes and others for their control and management. The global economy is seen to pose international challenge in failing to control and management of diabetes. It is evident as the UK economy is found to be more flourishing in nature compared to the US which is true as the UK economy stand 5th in the world as per GDP rank whereas the US stands at 9th position (www.imf.org, 2018; www.imf.org, 2018). This better presence of economic condition in the UK leads the government to establish NHS and other supportive public organisations to contribute finances in supporting healthcare intervention and health promotion regarding diabetes for individuals without making it a burden for them (Merlo et al. 2015). However, in the US, the healthcare system due to its lower economic growth compared to the UK is mostly private where most of the economic burden is to be taken by the population themselves in promotion and awareness regarding their health with little financial contribution from the government (Powers et al. 2017). In the African countries such as Nigeria, Egypt and others, it is seen that Nigeria stand at the 31st position and Egypt at 43rd position according to GDP in comparison with other countries (www.imf.org, 2018). Therefore, the government is these countries do not have effective amount of finances to be contributed for control and management of diabetes and other diseases. Moreover, in these countries, the population is mainly poor and are unable to bear expenses in accessing proper healthcare awareness and intervention to improve their health (Seuring et al. 2015). Thus, the differences in economies in the global context as international challenge for the control and management of diabetes has impacted to create lack or shortage of presence of proper finances for all the population of the countries to get aware and access health intervention systems for avoiding and preventing diabetes in a holistic manner.

The different environmental condition in the global context is seen to be creating challenges at the international level of failure to control and management of diabetes. The rise of fast food restaurants such as Subway (42,998 global outlets), KFC (20,404 global outlets), Burger King (16,859 global outlets) and others at an increased level in all countries in global context that promotes unhealthy eating has led to create challenge for controlling and managing incidence of diabetes (www.subway.com, 2019; www.yum.com, 2018). This is because more people at the global level are having fast foods that are high in fats and sugars due to their easy availability which contributes to their weight gain and other bodily complication leading to cause diabetes. This, in turn, has lead international and cross-national health organisations to face difficulty in controlling and managing spread of diabetes as it has impacted to make them unable to control the dietary environment of the global population that is acting as potential threat to cause the health issue. The healthcare environment in different countries across the globe is also creating challenges to control diabetes at the international level. This is evident as the nature of healthcare required to manage diabetes such as proper diabetes monitoring opportunity to everyone, presence of glucose meter for each patient, presence of qualified doctors and nurses and others are not always present at required amount in all countries (Ghosh et al. 2018). Thus, this lack of proper healthcare environment at all levels in the global context as international challenge has impacted to create failure in management and control of diabetes as all the individuals suffering from diabetes or vulnerable to the disease cannot be provided effective healthcare intervention to control the situation to avoid the prevalence of the disease (da Rocha Fernandes et al. 2016). The daily lifestyles of the population as well as among individuals across the globe are not similar in nature. This is evident as the lower classes of individuals in the population are seen to be involved in strenuous physical activity while at work whereas the people of the higher classes are seen to be usually office goers who have less amount of time to execute physical activity (Ibrahim et al. 2017). As commented by Honda et al. (2015), the lack of proper physical activity leads the cells of the muscles in the body become less sensitive to insulin. This result the body fails in controlling proper blood sugar level leading to cause diabetes. Thus, the differential lifestyle among the global population as international challenge has impacted on to fail to control and manage diabetes as all individuals as a result of changed way of livelihood could not be involved in physical activity required for controlling the health issue. The differences in cultural beliefs are also seen to have created international challenges in controlling diabetes. In Bangladesh, it perceived that intake of western medication to control diabetes creates side-effects which have negative influence on the health of the individuals. Moreover, in India, it is informed that cultural belief exists that eating bitter gourd is going to help in curing diabetes at a faster rate compared to the use of medication (Bhurji et al. 2016). This nature of cultural beliefs as an international challenge across the nations has impacted to lead many people to avoid the use of proper medication and healthcare intervention required to control diabetes creating challenges at the international level to fail to manage the health issue. It is evident as even though the international organisations try to educate the people at global level to use medicine and other intervention to prevent and control diabetes yet their cultural beliefs and customs lead them to avoid using such measures creating greater presence and rise of incidence of the health issue globally (Keval, 2015).

International success and solutions in control and management of Diabetes

In relation to the international challenges experienced regarding diabetes, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has collaborated with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in framing “Diabetes Action Now” program to control and manage diabetes globally (www.who.int, 2019). The program has an effective impact on the poor and undeveloped countries along with middle-income countries. This is because through the program the global collaboration between WHO and IDF uses finances and healthcare abilities to educate and provide tools required for controlling diabetes for the population in the low-income and middle-income countries. The program has been successful in the context that it has been able to provide increased number of individuals in the low and middle-income countries to be able to access tool to manage diabetes or have effective knowledge and awareness regarding the way to control and manage diabetes that was previously unavailable (www.who.int, 2018). The American Diabetes Association has formed collaboration with TrialNet which is an international network where various researchers across the world are seen to exploring ways in delaying, preventing and reversion the progression of Type-1 diabetes (professional.diabetes.org, 2019). They have formed the collaboration with the intention to identify ways in which Type-1 diabetes can be controlled in a better way. The success of the collaboration is not yet informed but in the future, it can be determined that better ways of controlling Type-1 diabetes for the people in the US can be developed. In Nigeria, the UN and the Lions Club International is seen to be working collaboratively to tackle the condition in the country. This is because it is seen that due to cultural attitudes, environment circumstances and others the people in the sub-Saharan area are found to be more prone to develop diabetes (allafrica.com, 2018). This global collaboration is seen to have impacted on the Nigerian population to have access to effective healthcare intervention tools and develop health awareness regarding diabetes to understand the way they can personally tackle the health issue.

Strategic Management Tool

The strategic management tools are those that are used to set objectives, analyse the competitive environment, evaluate strategies and others to determine the best way of executing activities. The strategic management tool to be used in the context of international and cross-national challenges related to diabetes is SWOT analysis. In SWOT analysis, the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat related to the situation are analysed to develop the action plan regarding the way the negative factors are to be avoided.

Analysis:

The strong international collaboration between various organisations to provide healthcare services related to diabetes for its control and management in low and middle-income countries is effective. This is because it helps the countries to have proper assistance to provide effective health education, medical intervention tools and others to the population required to tackle the health issue which they previously lacked without the assistance (www.who.int, 2019). Thus, this attribute act as strength to create success globally to tackle diabetes. The WHO is referred to the international organisation who offers monetary help as well as provides resources to the deprived countries to ensure their population is able to live a healthy life (www.who.int, 2018). The assistance of WHO acts as strength to create success in managing diabetes in an effective way globally because they would offer required resources and finances to low-income countries which they needed to raise their health condition at par with the high-income countries to equally control the incidence of the disease (www.who.int, 2018). As asserted by Kumar et al. (2016), cultural attitudes lead individuals to avoid accepting proper healthcare. This is because cultural beliefs make individuals develop unnecessary customs at times for which they avoid accessing proper healthcare opportunities. Moreover, improper lifestyle leads individuals unable to maintain proper health because it disrupts the healthy living ways such as intake of healthy food, maintains physical activity and others of the individuals (Ibrahim et al. 2017). Thus, the lack of proper lifestyle and negative cultural attitudes acts as weakness in tackling diabetes as the individuals due to cultural customs avoid using proper health intervention and due to improper lifestyle eats unhealthy foods that negatively affect their health. The financial assistance from World Health Organisation and IDF act as opportunity for promoting better awareness regarding diabetes internationally (www.who.int, 2018). This is because the international institutions offer economic help along with other resources required as per the need of the countries to set better health environment globally related to diabetes. However, the language barriers act a threat to promote diabetes awareness to tackle the disease equally through the globe (Edwards et al. 2016). This is because all the countries have different languages used for interactions and it is not possible to promote information in so many different languages at a time.

Action Plan

In order to ensure effective management and control of diabetes globally, the international organisations are to recruit volunteers from each country who have knowledge regarding languages in the local areas to deliver information about the way to control and prevent diabetes. This is required so that language barriers can be resolved and reduction in the incidence of diabetes is seen globally. Moreover, the WHO required collaborating with the national government of each country to influence them to keep control of expanding of fast food centres in the countries. This is required to create barrier is easy and increased availability and consumption of fast food which is one of the cause of diabetes to tackle the disease globally. Moreover, the international collaborations apart from spending on research and arranging health care are to focus on promoting population to uptake healthy lifestyle to tackle the prevalence of diabetes.

Conclusion

The above discussion informs that diabetes is one of the concerning global chronic diseases. It is seen that differences in attitudes and beliefs related to diabetes are one of the international challenges that have impacted in creating hindered awareness regarding the disease. The global economic burden is another international challenge that has impacted to create financial hindrances among the population to avail proper healthcare to control diabetes. The cultural attitudes is also another international challenge that has impacted people to develop negative customs and attitudes that are harmful for them leading them to fail in managing the disease. The action plan informs that an international collaborating organisation is to recruit volunteers from all countries, arrange policies to avoid expansion of fast food outlets and others.

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