One’s inability to receive proper medical care has an incredible impact on their general well being.
It is normal for us to see a dentist once, even twice a year. When I talked to some of my coworkers, who asked how I kept my teeth so white, they informed me that here in the Philippines, one will only see the dentist when there’s a problem like a toothache or missing teeth. This concept is a central theme to how most medical care works here in the Philippines; on an emergency basis.
In my advocacy class we learned about ‘hot spots’ which are essentially people who are responsible for most of a hospital’s revenue. This is due to the idea that emergency medicine is one of the most costly practices in health care. Emergency treatment is far more expensive than it is to receive routine medical care or annual checkups. However, those who cannot afford insurance or medical care in general typically fall into a brutal routine where the emergency department IS their medical care.
According to the PSA (data actually collected from the company I am working for) 29% , or 1 in 3 Filipinos die due to non-communicable diseases (NCD) with Ischemic heart disease being the number one killer. What is so interesting about NCDs is they more often than not can be completely avoided. With proper medical care inducing routine checkups, access to healthy foods, medications, and most importantly: education, so many of the diseases can be avoided. However, in a country where routine medical attention is uncommon and access to any care at all is only for a select few, it is not surprising that NCD’s surge the country.
Education:
Education is one of the most important factors playing into the health of the country. Without any understanding about how diseases spread and how to be healthy, one may never have the ability to adequately take care of their health. It is why STD’s and even unplanned pregnancies are so unbelievably common here.
I had a conversation with one of my coworkers who informed me that she did not take a sex education class until college. The only reason she took that class was because she signed up for it. Sex Education does not exist in schools, only a select few will ever take it, and not until they are much older. The topic still remains to be very sensitive to most and from my experience, it is very uncommon to talk about. I was baffled to learn that this type of education does not exist especially when understanding how incredibly high the rate of STDs and unplanned pregnancies are here.
In addition, education about eating healthy and proper hygiene are also uncommon. Disease like diabetes, hypertension, Metabolic syndrome, or small viruses like the flu would be significantly less prominent if people actually knew how to take care of themselves.