It is expected that the urban population in developing countries will double in the next 30 years. While urbanization is accompanied by health problems, population density can lower public health costs. Common mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, fatigue, irritability, and poor memory, account for 90% of all mental disorders, cause behavioral problems in offspring, and impede recovery from physical ailments. Those who suffer most from common mental disorders include women, those between 15 and 49 years old, and low-income populations. Strong links have been established between socioenvironmental factors and common mental disorders, and an urban environment has been associated with many possible risk factors for such disorders. Only a small percentage of people with mental disorders seek primary health care and even less receive secondary- or tertiary-level care. Common mental disorders place a large burden on primary health care services, however, but most of the patients suffering from mental disorders seek care for physical disorders that mask proper diagnosis and treatment. Thus, the World Health Organization advocates the introduction of mental health components in primary health care services in developing countries. In order to reach those who remain outside of the health care system, community-based interventions such as self-help groups or efforts to promote wider social changes or address poverty should be undertaken. Mental health in developing countries is gaining attention as the attendant loss in economic productivity of human capital has become apparent.
Iron deficiency is a global nutritional problem which mainly affects infants, children, and women of childbearing age. Using anemia as an indicator of iron deficiency, an estimated 30-60% of women and children in developing countries are iron deficient. Even in developed countries, iron deficiency warrants significant public health concern. This paper examines iron deficiency and strategies for its control, with an emphasis upon situations commonly found in developing countries. Sections address anemia and mortality, the effect of iron deficit upon child development and behavior, reduced work performance and productivity, meeting the nutritional requirements for iron in young children and women, general issues in the prevention and control of iron deficiency, nutrition promotion and an education-based approach, iron supplementation programs, the elimination of intestinal helminth infections, food fortification-based interventions for infants and younger children as well as adults, concerns about iron overload related to iron fortification, and an agriculture-based approach.
Over the next 25 years, as populations age and tobacco consumption increases, most developing regions will likely see noncommunicable diseases become the leading causes of disability and premature mortality. The already existing problems of malnutrition and infectious diseases will remain. In this context, the World Bank is examining its role and contribution to global health. From a small start approximately 25 years ago, the Bank has greatly expanded its role in international health, population, and nutrition to become the largest single external financier of health activities in low- and middle-income countries. Many other Bank-supported activities affect health, including poverty reduction, housing, water and sanitation, and the education of girls. The Bank is also increasingly active in health policy debates, publishing numerous studies annually. Most of these studies focus upon specific countries, but some address key issues of concern to many developing countries. This article explains why the Bank continues to expand its resources devoted to health and the rationale for the changing emphasis of its activities in the field.
Women play a central and increasingly complex role in most societies of the world. That role, however, has been poorly reflected in the fields of medicine and public health. Scientific attention and preventive health efforts have almost focused exclusively upon women's health as it affects their reproductive functions and offspring. Women have been treated as mothers or wives, rather than as individual female human beings with more comprehensive needs. This narrow perspective has adverse consequences for women's health and the social and economic well-being of the communities and societies in which they live. A study was undertaken to elaborate and test a more inclusive way of thinking about illness and to provide a unified documentary base for use in developing a systematic agenda for research and health policy formulation around female health in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors chose a life span model taking health and illness as cumulative products of synergy among different diseases and conditions, and between those diseases and conditions and the circumstances of real life. The Board on International Health of the Institute of Medicine study demonstrates the general utility of the life span model to the study of male and female health worldwide.
Politicians in the US have made adolescent parents the scapegoat of changing cultural patterns by suggesting punitive solutions to nonmarital births rather than addressing underlying causes of premature child-bearing. It is known that the percentages of young people of all races and all social classes reporting early, nonmarital sexual intercourse have increased dramatically, while adolescent fertility rates peaked in the 1950s. Improved access to contraception and abortion caused a decline in teen pregnancy and birth rates from 1970 to 1986. During 1986-91, service providers could not match growing demand, and the birth rate increased 25%. Increased rates of sexual activity have also led to increases in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS among adolescents. This situation was exacerbated by Reagan and Bush policies, which reduced funding for services to adolescents and supported abstinence-only sex education courses. The concern voiced by policy-makers today centers on nonmarital childbearing by low-income adolescents who will rely on public assistance to survive. A proper response to this situation would involve the following policy actions: 1) mandating comprehensive sexuality education from kindergarten through high school, 2) funding mentoring programs, 3) improving economic and educational opportunities, 4) expanding STD and HIV/AIDS prevention programs, 5) increasing access to confidential health services (including mental health care and substance abuse treatment), 6) expanding child sexual abuse prevention and intervention programs, and 7) increasing access to and acceptability of teen contraceptive usage and abortion.
