Overview & Summary: Emerging Global Health Concerns: How Nurses Respond

Abstract

The 20th century ushered in revolutionary progress in the advancement of medical science. These advancements have led to a decrease in morbidity and mortality rates, increase in average global life expectancy and enhancement of quality of life for individuals living in both developed and developing countries. We have seen even more scientific advances in the 21st century with the use and expansion of genetics and genomics science to create a path to personalized medicine with promises of using these technologies to identify risk factors for several diseases in which early treatment intervention can commence (Aswini & Varun, 2010: Hamburg & Collins, 2010).The World Health Organization (WHO) has noted a remarkable increase in global average life expectancy with populations everywhere now living longer (WHO, 2014). For instance, the 2014 World Health Statistics Report suggests that on a global average, a female child born in 2012 is projected to live up to 73 years, while a male child born in 2012 is projected to live up to the age of 68 years. These projections are six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child born in 1990 (WHO, 2014). Although health disparity gaps persist within and between developed and developing countries, gains in life expectancy were significant among lowincome nations, which averaged an increase in life expectancy by 9 years from 1990 to 2012 (WHO, 2014).Although the reasons for the increase in life expectancy are varied and complex, a primary reason is that globally, infant and under-five mortality rates in many countries have significantly decreased (United Nations Children's Fund, 2015). Other reasons attributed to the increase in overall life expectancy around the world include advances in medical technology, an increase in literacy rates, improved socioeconomic conditions, and progress in availability of safe water and food safety, good sanitation practices, immunization, and a decrease in deaths from infectious and communicable diseases (Kent & Yin, 2006). Additionally, the discovery and availability of new antibiotics have made it possible to treat some infectious diseases that would otherwise kill populations (Hopkins, 2013).The world has made great strides in addressing infectious diseases, such as the eradication of smallpox in the 1970s and the near eradication of poliomyelitis. Despite these gains, infectious and communicable diseases persist the world over and many microbes have not been eliminated. Frequently, we have seen epidemics either in the form of bacterial, viral, and/or vector borne diseases raising their ugly heads. These diseases are referred to in the public health literature as 'emerging' and 'remerging' infections. Other global health concerns of note include human trafficking and maternal-newborn health.During the last three decades, in an effort to name causative agents of these emerging infections, it seemed scientists have used most of the alphabet. A listing of few includes: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Avian flu (H7N9), Chikungunya, Dengue Fever, Ebola, H1N1 Flu, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and now Zika Virus. Reasons for the emergence of these conditions are complex. However, what is true is that in the last two decades, we have seen new pathogens emerge globally.New pathogens (including viruses such as Ebola) have emerged and supposedly made the leap from harboring in animals to infecting humans, creating what Quammen (2012) referred to as the 'spillover effect' phenomenon. Weather and climatic conditions have reportedly increased risk factors for these conditions by creating the environment and habitat where many vector borne disease can anchor, breed, and multiply (Dye. 2014). Given the changes in global climatic conditions and environmental degradation of ecosystems, there is likely to be an emergence of infectious diseases which are unknown to frontline healthcare workers. …