Part -1: Discussion: What Can America Learn From Japan?

As the week's resources reveal, the Japanese experience demonstrates the importance of cultural issues, such as caring and sharing, that profoundly influence health outcomes. Without considering culture, one cannot begin to explain why Japan is the world's healthiest nation on most mortality indicators despite having a high proportion of men smoking and the highest rates of low-birth weight babies among rich nations.
Furthermore, health outcomes in Japan are significantly better than those in the U.S., even though the U.S. spends much more on health care. What can the U.S. learn from this country?

To prepare for this Discussion, review your Learning Resources on Japan's health status.

Post a brief analysis of how reconstruction after World War II contributed to Japan's contemporary health status. Then, summarize one significant political feature and one legal feature of Japan's contemporary health care system that contributes to Japan's population health status. Offer two reasons (historical, political, legal, and/or cultural) for the disparity between the Japanese and American populations in health achievement. Finally, suggest two lessons other countries can learn from the Japanese experience to improve their own health status. Expand on your insights utilizing the Learning Resources.

Use APA formatting for your Discussion and to cite your resources.

Part -2: Discussion: Is the EU Closing the Gap on Health Inequities?

The World Health Organization and European Union (EU) DETERMINE Consortium has acknowledged gaps in health equities within and between member countries. A variety of efforts are underway to help close those gaps.

To prepare for this Discussion, review your Learning Resources, particularly the readings from the DETERMINE Consortium and European Commission and the National Social Marketing Centre video programs. Select two EU countries on which to focus. Look at efforts in those countries designed to reduce health inequities and inequality and examine appropriate outcomes for those efforts. Evaluate the performance of the health systems in those countries as reflected in population health data for each of the countries. Be sure to access the CIA country profiles (found within the CIA World Factbook) and WHO websites provided earlier for the most current resources.

Post a brief comparison of the health status of the two EU countries you selected with that of the U.S. Then, describe two efforts in those EU countries to reduce health inequities. Explain what lessons can be learned from the EU efforts you selected that can be implemented in the U.S. nationally or by individual states. Explain how the community you live in might adapt these interventions. Expand on your insights utilizing the Learning Resources.

Use APA formatting for your Discussion and to cite your resources.

Part -3: Population Health of the Former Soviet Union, India, and China

Nations or groups of nations can occasionally serve as natural experiments allowing us to see how certain factors that influence population health can change over time. For instance, available evidence suggests that Russia was much less healthy than the United States in 1900 but had mostly caught up in mortality outcomes by 1960, when progress languished. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the adoption of capitalist elements, mortality increased substantially in those nations and has not yet returned to the lower levels enjoyed previously (Walberg,et al, 1998). The vulnerable populations varied in different parts of the former Soviet Union as did the specific diseases responsible for the observed increase in mortality. The increase itself, however, is not in question. This suggests that a disease focus may not be the best way to address health in nations. This week, you examine the Russian experience and see how the dynamic is reflected in two other large eastern hemisphere nations, India and China.

This week, you examine the impact globalization and economic inequalities have on many issues in some high populace countries including health, poverty, human rights, and the environment. You also consider how larger populations display various health outcomes.
Learning Objectives

Students will:
- Analyze effects of globalization on health in Russia
- Analyze changes in quality of life and mortality in post-transition Russia
- Analyze health outcomes in India, Russia, and China over the last half century
- Analyze health outcomes in the Kerala community compared to the rest of India

Discussion: The Globalization of Health

Cell phones, video cameras, and other technologies are changing the way we live today. It is difficult to avoid the stories and images of poverty, human rights abuses, disasters, diseases, and other tragedies that plague people in rich and poor countries alike.

It is not just communications technology that is making the world a "smaller" place. Globalization is also exerting a powerful effect on the conditions in which people live and work, (i.e., the social determinants of health) and, thus, on health itself.

To prepare for this Discussion, review your Learning Resources. Search online for current stories/events related to population health.

Post a brief summaryon the effects of globalization on health in Russia. Discuss one change in quality of life in post-transition Russia. Also, explain one change in mortality in post-transition Russia. Provide examples for both. Expand on your insights utilizing the Learning Resources.

Attachment:- Discussion.zip