Chapter 1. 9 HEALTH POLICYNDS HomeWelcome MessageFeedbackDRAFT 1. April 1. 99. 6Back to TopI. Basic Features of the Sector Back to TopA. Health Conditions of the Population. Social Policy BSc Hons School School of Health and Society. Subject area Social Policy and Social Work. One of the more unfortunate consequences of the well documented decline of Guyanas. This was a result of many factors, primarily lower per capita income. Governments recurrent allocations to the sector dropped sharply in. Factors That Influence Policy Drivers In Health And Social Care' title='Factors That Influence Policy Drivers In Health And Social Care' />Activity Brief HS Number 17 C Task Activity Level 5 Pathway Task reference type Task Understand Professional Management and Leadership in Health and name. While there. has been success with immunisation programmes, the incidence of some diseases has increased. Comparative analysis shows that Guyana now fares poorly in comparison with neighbouring. Life expectancy declined from 7. Comparable figures for. Jamaica, 7. 3 years Barbados, 7. Surinam, 6. 9. 5 years. Venezuela, 7. 0 years and Trinidad and Tobago, 7. Guyanas infant mortality rate was. In Venezuela, the infant. Surinam 3. 0, in Trinidad and Tobago 2. Jamaica 1. 5. 1Maternal mortality also is relatively high. In 1. 99. 0, the rates at the hospitals in Georgetown. Suddie and New Amsterdam were 2. Comparable figures for the Caribbean were 3. Barbados, 8. 9 in Trinidad and Tobago and 1. Jamaica, all data from 1. A health strategy has to be based on a determination of which are the leading health problems in. Health problems by age group are outlined in the following paragraphs of this. Section, and then the structure of the health care system is presented. Issues and constraints. Section III. The leading causes of mortality for young children aged 1 to 4 are. Infectious intestinal diseases. Nutritional deficiencies. Diseases of the respiratory system. Diseases of the blood and blood forming organs. Diseases of the nervous system. Homicide and purposely inflicted injury. Other accidents. Malnutrition has been a product of the high rates of poverty Chapter 1. It probably has. decreased somewhat in the last three to four years, but as of 1. Living Standards. Measurement Survey found that 2. The prevalence of severe malnutrition was. Regions 2, 7 and 1. The rate of child mortality from diarrhoeal diseases has declined somewhat in very recent years. Hospitals have seen an. In 1. 99. 2, the leading causes of mortality for all age groups in Guyana were 4 Cerebrovascular disease, ischaemic heart disease, hypertensive disorders and pulmonary. Endocrine and metabolic diseases, particularly diabetes. Conditions occurring in the perinatal period. Other respiratory diseases. Diseases of the digestive system, especially intestinal infections. The picture is different in regard to morbidity. Overall, the ten health problems most often. For purposes of policy planning, the significance of. The high incidence of dental caries is no doubt influenced by the extremely low ratio of dentists. As mentioned in Chapter 1. Cases of gastroenteritis and typhoid fever increases sharply as well. In general, diseases. For the age group under 5, acute respiratory infections, worm infestation, scabies, malaria and. Malaria, hypertension and diabetes are the. Table 1. 9 1 shows the incidence of these health. Morbidity Reported in Health Centres and Vector Control. Dental Services by Age Group, 1. Cause of Morbidity. Age Group. 0 4. Total. Dental cariesn. Malaria. Acute respiratory infections. Acute diarrhoeal diseasen. Hypertension. 01,2. Worm infestation. Diabetes mellitus. Rheumatism and arthritis. Accidents, injuries. Scabies. 1,8. 85. Note Subtotals do not add to totals because the latter include cases in which the age was not. Source Ministry of Health, Draft National Health Plan of Guyana, 1. Georgetown. November, 1. There are significant differences in morbidity by region, owing in part to the geographical. In 1. 99. 3 the total number of cases of diseases and ailments per 1,0. Region 1 and 1,2. Region 8, as compared to only 1. Region 1. 0. 1. 10 in Region 6 and 1. Region 3. Malaria is chiefly responsible for the high rates of. Region 1 and an. astonishing 9. Get Low Dj Snake. Region 8. Even allowing for instances of repeated. Region 8 has malaria. There. also are more than 1. Regions 7 and 9. Malaria in the. Indiscriminate use of antimalarial drugs in these areas has caused an. In the 1. 94. 0s Guyanas anti malaria programme was one of the most successful in South. America, and by 1. This experience demonstrates what. The resurgence of malaria began when anti malaria measures were suspended. It should be borne in mind that all the aforementioned data on morbidity refer to reported cases. The Regions with the lowest overall morbidity rates according to statistics on reported cases. This finding. undoubtedly reflects the relatively better quality of medical care that has characterised Region. Regions 7, 8 and 9 also have a lower rate of vaccination than the rest of the country for the six. Apart from the major causes of morbidity reported in hospitals, health centres, vector control. HIVAIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases STDs are. Guyana. The number of AIDS cases increased from 1. Among blood donors, 7. STDs were positive and 1. HIV positive in 1. Moreover, ante natal monitoring of mothers indicates a 2. HIV infection. Rates of use of contraceptive devices are relatively low 3. It is. estimated at 4. As in the case of the other syndromes mentioned above. However. according to the Social Science Faculty at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the. West Indies op. cit., If present trends continue, this disease AIDS will have major. Although there is very little statistical information on drug abuse, it appears to be increasing. The nature of the most pressing health concerns varies by group in the population. For women. the principal concerns center around their childbearing role and include maternal mortality. Cancer also figures among the leading causes of death of. The leading causes of morbidity for children have been mentioned. Low birth weights are an. Coverage of immunisation. BCG7, DPT, OPV. Rates of coverage for the first three, for the age group under 1 year, are. Malnutrition is seen as a serious problem among Amerindian children. For Amerindians in. In the Western and Southwestern areas, snake bites are a problem and in the. Southern areas the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis bush yaws appears to be increasing. Tuberculosis and eye infections have been mentioned as problems in Region 9. Little information is available about disabled persons, and the care and facilities to help disabled. There are no statistics on the number of persons with mental health. To date not much priority has been given to dealing with mental health issues.