Impact of Globalization
Globalization has brought implications to the welfare of the citizens. Globalization leads to inequality of income in both developing and developed countries. Globalization according to (Schneider 2016) is the process through which companies, people, and different countries interact and integrate. This process is driven by investment and international trade, which are aided by technology. Globalization has effects on culture, environment, political systems and the economic prosperity and development and the well-being of a person. It is, however, a more complex phenomenon. For many years, different countries have been trading with each other therefore globalization is not new; it is the circulation of both services and goods between different countries. Unfortunately also characterizes it; the countries that are less developed are detrimental by globalization. Nevertheless, globalization also has a benefit to developing countries. The bigger question is how the globalization has an impact on the health sector. The paper discusses the impacts that globalization has on the health system in low in developing countries.
Safe and quality health care for everyone is a major concern for all countries globally. However, disparities in the health care system between the poor and the rich still exist; this substantially affects the delivery of quality of health care. The prospects of health in the future depend on globalization. Many of the people view globalization as an economic process. In recent times, it is a comprehensive phenomenon. For one to understand fully the impacts of globalization on the health sector, one should focus on the broader determinants of globalization such as global communications, global mobility, environmental changes, and global markets. All of these factors are major determinants of health. They have an influence on health promotion, policies, and the health sector. Therefore, the major impact of globalization in the health care system is the issues of disparities in healthcare.
Health policies are being formulated by the structures of global governance. World Health Organization and the World Bank are important health organizations in health governance globally. World Bank plays an important role in the health sector by ensuring that the population has good health for economic development to take place. It also influences the health policies in partnership with International Monetary fund through programs of structural adjustments (Milanovic 2016).There is also a growing development of partnerships between private and public sectors. This partnership has brought a new form of governance and has good implication to health policies. Economic security and economic growth due to globalization can lead to health promotion. Globalization has led to decrease in health inequality between countries. For a developing country like Greece, being excluded from the growth of the economy can lead them to have a poor health care system, which might affect the provision of health care services (Kremer 2017)
The health services in Greece are usually influenced by global changes that occur in health policies, trade, and economic development. The efforts of World Health Organization to involve the government in the strengthening of health services and its involvement in the health policies has decreased, this has substantially affected health care delivery in developing countries. Further, health services in this country are seen as a profitable business. In addition, the privatization of health care services has led to the low accessibility of health (Doucet 2016).
Limitation
Globalization has a lot of impact on health issues. This impact in the global health has led to the increase of limitation and challenges. The spread of diseases is one of the challenges in globalization especially in low-income countries; this is due to global migration. Non-communicable diseases have become a threat to poor countries. Chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and heart diseases are brought about by human behavior such as the change in one’s lifestyle, which is also due to globalization. Multinational companies have a lot of influence on health care (Lazaridis 2017). The production by these companies of goods and services has led to increased health risks. However, due to their superiority, they are able to escape the international law (Acharya 2016). Therefore, effective ways should be developed by the global market to ensure that the qualities of goods that travel internationally are safe. For instance, the recent case of health risks caused by lead found in the toys, tainted food for the pets, and fish that is contaminated, this poses a major concern for the safety of users of this products. Globalization also affects developing countries in accessing vaccines and drugs that are essential, this has led to a major health challenge to these countries both financially and in the provision of safe and quality health care. Further, the health professionals also migrate to the already developed countries leaving the non-developed with low human resources in the healthcare system has contributed to the major health challenges seen in developing countries.
Globalization has led to multiple opportunities that have led to an improvement in the health sectors over the years. Through globalization, there is a growth in the healthcare systems in Greece; this is because of the improved health standards leading to an improved life expectancy of the populations, as they are able to access quality health care services. In addition, Greece is able to give better healthcare services to its populations due to the availability of funds, which are also used to educate its health professionals so that they can have the appropriate skills to treat the patients (Albrecht 2017).
The threats to global stability are becoming severe as the years progresses. Many people are getting the opportunity to get treatments in other countries due to globalization. Healthcare system has become a social policy in the world. This has unleashed the business chances in the United States. Healthcare decisions can also be overnight .It has changed healthcare has changed he delivery of medicines. Globalization has also increased the inflow of professionals so that they can provide quality care .Due to technological and financial pressures, the public health will play a central role in the assessment of the expenditure. Factors of the environment can influence the delivery of healthcare. Technological advancement will increase the safety of the patients. This will create more healthcares in care home and even in work places (Baars 2017).
Greece has been under severe debt since 2009, this led to the signing of Memorandum of policies in the health system and in the Economic and finance sectors (Baldwin 2016). The health system in Greece has had serious problems that include organization, financing, and the delivery of services. These challenges have been intensified by the severe economic conditions. Due to the disorganization by the Greece government on health issues, the population receives low-quality health services. Reforms need to be carried out in the hospital systems and the primary healthcare (Albrecht 2017). The government has also held discussions on how financial crisis affects the healthcare system. Press releases and scientific research can be a problem to the health sector. The government showed a lot of commitment in support of healthcare reforms. According to the policy, there is need to know how to prevent diseases. The population was also required to invest in health. People who migrated from other countries were also required to be integrated into the health system of the nation. This health policy was meant to improve health equity and health in Greece and strengthen the health system. Therefore, the government should come with reforms to end financial crises affecting the health sector in order to improve the quality of health care to be provided to its citizen.
Benefits of Globalization for Health and Health System in Greece
It is named after a social reformer named William Beveridge (Baars 2017). He designed the National Health Service of Britain. According to this model, the government through taxes finances the health system. Most of the hospitals are owned by the government. The doctors are both private and government employees in this hospitals. This model has low costs because the government controls the charges.
This model is named for Otto von Bismarck who was a Prussian Chancellor. He invented the welfare state in the 19thcentury (Fervers 2016). This was meant to unify the German state. This system is somehow similar to that of the Americans. An insurances system is used in this model. People who offer insurance are known as the sickness funds. This insures are usually financed by the employees and employers deduction from their payrolls; this model is meant to cover everyone, unlike the U.S insurance. Countries that follow the Bismarck model have private hospitals. There are regulations that give the government cost-control.
It is an element of Bismarck and Beveridge. The private sector providers are used, however, the payment is from the government insurance program. Every citizen pays into this program. There is no profit in this model (Chew 2016). It is much cheaper than the American style of insurance. It also controls the services of medical that they pay for.
In this model, the citizens pay to get medical services. This mostly happens in the less developed countries. The people who have the finances are the ones that get medical care while the poor have no access to health services.
In Greece, the right parties dominated the political system until the early 80s.There was increased employment and due to this, there was equality among the citizens. The health system in Greece evolved in an unfavorable environment that led to the blockage of reforms. This was because the health system related directly to the country’s economy. The health system in Greek was based on the Bismarck model, as it was a reflection of its economy. In 1953, the first attempt to bring a Beveridge health system was established. This created a new organizational structure for charitable and public hospitals. This was viewed in a socialist manner and it had no implementation. The healthcare services were characterized by low-quality primary health care, poor infrastructure, scarce funding, and organization. Even in the 1960s, the policy was still vague this is because the funds and state did not coordinate well. There were deficient services being provided, lack of both human and physical resources and disparities of the location. Most of the physicians were merged into the private sector, which grew rapidly. The ministry of health presented a health reform plan to the dictator government; this aimed at decentralizing and organizing the services of healthcare. Doctors who graduated within this period were required to spend time in the rural areas. After independence, a more comprehensive system of healthcare was developed. This national health policy included the increase in the public’s finances, developing health centers in rural areas and a health system nationally (Teperoglou and Andreadis 2016).
Keys of Globalization
The health national policy aims at reviving the health system nationally and in the increase of the primary health sector. It also aims at ensuring that there is equity while accessing the health services both geographically and socially. The main objective, however, is to ensure that good quality health is provided to the population (Fields 2016). It also aims at increasing the access of the decentralized system of health. This is done by constructing new infrastructures in areas that are deficient and in the institutions that are already established the infrastructure should be upgraded. Therefore, the responsible personnel responsible in the formulation of health policies should come up with strategies that aim to protect their workforce to prevent against loss of professionals to other countries.
The provision of health services in the private sector should also be enhanced, especially for those who can afford to pay their hospital bills (Warren 2016). The policy also aims at increasing the expenditure and this will lead to health promotion. Programs that are aimed at controlling diseases such as HIV/Aids and malaria and vaccination should be developed (Doucet 2016).
A country is said to be either developed or developing due to its living standards, economy, per capita income and the literacy level (Mellis 2014). A developed country offers quality healthcare to its citizens. Developed countries have a well-developed and organized healthcare system as compared to developing countries. The physicians are well educated and are paid very well for their services while the developing countries have a low human resource in terms of physicians. This is due to their migration as they receive low payments.
Summary and Conclusion
Globalization is the process through which people, companies, and countries integrate and interact leading to an exchange of workforce. The international trade and investment influence the process of globalization, which are aided in the advancement in technology. Globalization can be seen as an impact to the health center as it has an adverse effect on the environmental, cultural, economic, and political systems. Globalization has had a substantial impact on the health system as it is a major contributor of income inequalities in both the developed and the developing countries, this can lead to the migration of physicians and health professionals. The migration mostly affects the developing countries such as Greece. There is two phenomena related to this, which are, young professionals and doctors, migrate to other countries to get a better pay and second the developed countries recruiting doctors from the poorer countries. There is also an emerging trend where patients travel to other countries to get treatment.
Reference List
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