Assessment 1
Healthcare Delivery in a Country

Instructions: Develop a 4–5 page examination of your chosen healthcare issue within the context or your chosen country.

Introduction

Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.

The manner in which policymakers allocate and promote resources has a strong relationship to access to healthcare, positive health outcomes, and life expectancy.

The past century has been marked by the second industrial revolution, economic development, human development, and the green revolution. These developments have contributed to improved standards of living but often created new threats to low-income countries through environmental degradation. Improved nutrition and basic infrastructure have helped many societies to experience an epidemiological transition, a decrease in infectious diseases, and increased life expectancy.

Global health organizations are trying to address healthcare issues of all kinds throughout the world. Guiding principles are set by the World Health Organization (WHO), and goals for improving global health policy have been defined by its millennium development goals. Other major worldwide organizations such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and others will continue to shape and mold global health policy.

From an international perspective, money and wealth do not necessarily buy positive health outcomes. The manner in which policymakers allocate and promote resources bears a strong relationship to access to healthcare, positive health outcomes, and life expectancy. China and Kerala, India, are prime examples of growth-mediated and support-led models. Service delivery, healthcare funding, prevention, and life expectancy are impacted by resource allocation. Elements and best practices can be extrapolated from the growth-mediated models and support-led models to compare with specific low, middle, and high income 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.

• Which type of healthcare system (entrepreneurial, mandated health insurance, or national health service) is most closely aligned to WHO principles?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of each type of healthcare system?
• How would you measure an organization's success against other organizations that are trying to address the same issues? Consider qualitative and quantitative measures.

Note: The country and healthcare issue you choose for this assessment will form the basis of each of the three assessments in this course.

Preparation:

Complete the following:

• Choose one of the global healthcare issues listed below. Consider choosing an issue that is of interest or relevance to your career.
• Choose a country to study, which has identified one of the issues below as a central problem facing its population. Be sure that you have reasonable access to this country's healthcare information.
• Consult your textbook, the Capella University Library, and the Internet to analyze the ways your chosen country delivers healthcare to its population.
  • You may wish to review Health Care Administration Master's Program (MHA) Library Guide.
• View the World Health Care Types infographic activity in this assessment.
• Reflect on your critical thinking.

Global Health Care Issues

Consider the following global healthcare issues:

• Infant and children's mortality.
• Mental health.
• Substance abuse.
• Infectious diseases (cholera, AIDS, malaria, flu, et cetera).
• Noninfectious diseases (cardiovascular, stroke, diabetes, et cetera).
• Maternal and reproductive health.
• Malnutrition.
• Domestic violence.

Deliverable

Write a 4–5-page examination of your chosen healthcare issue within the context or your chosen country.

• Determine if the country and healthcare type you chose is a progressive system, a regressive system, or a proportionate system.

Select one of the following areas to examine:

• Affordability and funding.
• Patient access and equity.
• Education programs.
• Prevention programs.
• Service provisioning (delivery).
• Healthcare work force.
• Monitoring of the disease.

Complete the following in reference to your chosen areas:

• Summarize the needs of healthcare consumers associated with the issue.
• Identify the funding amounts and sources dedicated to this issue in the country.
• Analyze governmental approaches to address the issue.
• Discuss the gaps between the needs of consumers and services offered by the government.
• Describe briefly other providers (private or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that support, augment, or substitute government efforts.

In answering the assessment, include an analysis of your critical thinking:

• How do my life experiences influence my perspective?
• How might my perspective be different from that of others?
• What role can I serve in helping to solve this problem?

Additional Requirements

Your paper should meet the following requirements:

• Formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
• Number of resources: Use a minimum of three resources.
• Length: 4–5 double-spaced pages, not including the references page.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

Portfolio Prompt: You are required to save this learning activity to your ePortfolio.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Analyze international entities or health care issues to determine health system needs.
  • Describe the needs of consumers associated with a health care issue.
  • Identify funding amounts and sources dedicated to a health care issue within a country.
  • Analyze governmental approaches to address a health care issue.
  • Differentiate the services of private and nongovernmental providers from those of governmental entities.
• Competency 3: Apply key performance measures to address a specific health issue within an international community.
  • Differentiate the services of private and nongovernmental providers from those of governmental entities.
• Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in health care administration.
  • Reflect on your critical thinking.
  • Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.