Write a 5–7 page paper comparing the best practices of handling a healthcare issue between two countries.
As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.
Malnutrition is a world-wide problem and a direct contributor to many diseases:
What are the major benefits of providing adequate nutrition to its citizens?
What are the most important costs associated with addressing malnutrition: logistics, food, medicine, delivery, personnel, education?
Preparation
Conduct research in the Capella library and the Internet to identify a country that you feel employs effective practices to deal with the healthcare issue you chose in Assessment 1. (This country will be henceforth referred to as the model country.) Be sure that the model country is from a different economic stratum than the country you chose in Assessment 1.
Compare your chosen country from Assessment 1 with the model country you identified during the preparation for this assessment.
In your paper:
Discuss your reasons for selecting the model country for its best practices. Assess the performance indicators that led to the selection.
Compare briefly the challenges each government faces when addressing the issue.
Compare briefly the approaches each government takes to address the issue. What might be reasons for the differences?
Choose one approach employed by your model country as a best practice to address the issue. Discuss ways that adoption of that best practice might improve healthcare services provided to customers in your chosen country.
Reflect on your critical thinking and personal bias/influence/experience by exploring the three main stages of the Paul-Elder framework to your work.
My life experiences as an individual in a high-income country have profoundly shaped my perspective on global health issues. I have always had the privilege of immediate access to healthcare and a stable system of care. My perspective, therefore, is one of recognizing this privilege and seeking to understand the immense challenges faced by others. I have learned to critically analyze the distinction between what I consider a “right” to healthcare and what is a daily, often life-or-death, struggle for millions in countries like South Africa. This awareness forces me to move beyond a simplistic view of “helping” and to instead analyze the systemic and political factors that create and perpetuate health crises. My experience has taught me the importance of examining policy not just for its intentions, but for its on-the-ground impact and the unintended consequences it may have on the most vulnerable.