Public Health Delivery In Mauritius

Public Health Delivery In Mauritius As the saying goes health is wealth, the provision of proper healthcare is extremely important as this implies well-being, happiness, and a good quality of life. A healthy population is essential for the growth and prosperity of a country. A nations health system should thus aim at providing quality healthcare to its population. The Ministry of Health Quality of Life, to whom an overall yearly budget of Rs 5 billion is allocated, provides public healthcare in Mauritius as a welfare service. (Source: Newsletter Ministry of Health Quality of Life July 2009). As at the year ended 2008, health services were provided through 13 public hospitals including 5 specialised ones, 22 Area Health Centres and 108 Community Health Centres located throughout the country. (Source: Ministry of Health Quality of Life). Free healthcare provided by the Ministry of Health Quality of Life has improved the health situation of the citizens of Mauritius. This is shown in table 1.2 below. Table 1.2: Health Indicators in Mauritius for the years 1990 and 2008 (Source: Ministry of Health Quality of Life) The health indicators in Table 1.2 show favourable changes in the health situation of Mauritians in 2008 compared to 1990. Apart from providing health services to the citizens of Mauritius through its hospitals and health centres, The Ministry of Health Quality of Life being highly concerned about the well-being of the Mauritian population, tries to create awareness amongst them by carrying out several welfare activities. The latter include the launching of a Mobile Clinic which was done on 7 May 2009, public demonstration of physical activities such as yoga, aerobics, Tai Chi and physical exercise that are organised to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, tips given with regards to a healthy nutrition so as to fight obesity, organising empowerment programmes to sensitise the population on the adverse effects of tobacco and alcohol, talks on stress management and a National Cancer Control Programme has been developed to fight against cancer. (Source: Newsletter Ministry of Health Quality of Life July 2009) Furthermore, The Ministry of Health Quality of Life aims at improving the quality of healthcare provided to the citizens of Mauritius. Recently, on 27 April 2009, it introduced the implementation of the ISO 9001: 2008 in health services so as to increase customer satisfaction and meet the needs of the Mauritian population. (Newsletter Ministry of Health Quality of Life July 2009). The future plans of the Ministry include the setting up of Medical Schools where proper training will be given to healthcare providers and improving the hospitality and catering services provided in its hospitals. (Source: Newsletter Ministry of Health Quality of Life March 2009) From the above, it can be noted that The Ministry of Health Quality of Life is highly concerned with the health of the citizens of Mauritius. However despite all the efforts of The Ministry of Health Quality of Life, the Mauritian population does not seem to be fully satisfied with its healthcare services. Patients are increasingly filing medical malpractice cases which nowadays are repeatedly seen as being the headline of many newspapers. Media reporting has created an increased awareness of harm related to healthcare errors. Additionally, despite the fact that industrialisation and economic growth during the last years have positively changed the lifestyle and the standard of living of the Mauritian population, the latter is highly exposed to diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer, HIV/AIDS and so forth. Research has shown that 1 out of 5 Mauritians aged 30 and above has diabetes that is mostly caused due to obesity, unhealthy eating habits, lack of physical activity and alcohol abuse. (Source: Newsletter Ministry of Health Quality of Life July 2009) The HIV/AIDS status in Mauritius is quite high with 3792 cases registered from October 1987 to March 2009. This has resulted in 249 deaths as at March 2009. Prior to 2000, 20 to 30 new cases of HIV were being reported annually. However over the period of 2001 2005 the number had increased by almost twice annually: 55 in 2001, 98 in 2002, 225 in 2003, 525 in 2004 and 921 in 2005. The 538 new cases registered in 2008 showed that in spite of all the efforts of the Ministry of Health Quality of Life, HIV in Mauritius is on a rising trend. (Source: Ministry of Health Quality of Life: An analysis of Health Situation in Mauritius as at year ended 2008) Furthermore each year more than 1400 new cases of cancer are registered in Mauritius. In 2008, 12% of all deaths were due to this disease. (Source: Newsletter Ministry of Health Quality of Life July 2009) Heart diseases and Diabetes mellitus were the first two main causes of mortality in 2008. Comparing the causes of death in 2008 with those of 1975: Causes 1975 2008 All diseases related to the circulatory system including heart diseases 28.4% 35.0% Diabetes Mellitus 2.7% 22.8% Table 1.3: Causes of death in the years 1975 and 2008 (Source: Ministry of Health Quality of Life: An analysis of Health Situation in Mauritius for the year ended 2008) Table 1.3 shows a rapid increase in death due to heart diseases and diabetes mellitus over the last three decades. This can be explained by a change in the lifestyle and eating habits of the citizens of Mauritius which is making them become more prone to such non-communicable diseases. Morbidity in Mauritius and the litigation/complaints concerning medical mal-practice therefore indicate that the Ministry of Health Quality of Life is not meeting the needs of the Mauritian population. The healthcare system in Mauritius is getting bigger and more complex as the expectations of the population are increasing. The citizens of Mauritius who are now better educated, have become highly demanding in terms of choice, access, quality of care and service. They furthermore feel that the system is deteriorating and becoming less responsive to their needs as the press only publicises the bad points. Such negative media comments definitely demoralise the health care providers. The aim of this project is to investigate the problems faced by the public health care sector of Mauritius. This will be done through an empirical study at Flacq Hospital, one of the well-known general hospitals operated by the Ministry of Health Quality of Life. Throughout this study, it is intended to assess the healthcare quality provided at Flacq Hospital and analyse the factors linked to service experience and patient satisfaction. By evaluating patient experience important information can be obtained for identifying problems and taking appropriate measures for quality improvement in health-care facilities (Labarere and Franà §ois, 1999; Batchelor et al., 1994). Improving the quality of service in hospitals will thus be beneficial to everybody namely patients, physicians, nursing staff, management and tax-payers. Such a win-win situation will be advantageous to the whole country.

America’s Dilemma and Vietnam

Vietnam War though ended by the Paris Peace Accord in the year 1973, yet it had left incredible marks in the heart of the political domain of America. The statement of Henry Kissinger, â€Å"Vietnam is still with us† 1 speaks the volume of effect the policies of respective Presidents on the Vietnam War has created in the minds of thinkers, critics and people alike. Since last many years, thinkers had been analyzing the reasons behind failure.Many are pointing towards the fact that America might have won strategically but had lost politically as well as militarily. There are also notions of the causes of the failure owing to military strategy at several levels. On the other hand, it is also said that failure was due to the political restrictions being posed by civilian leaders at home on the military leadership. Despite failures, this war proved as a lesson to be learnt while dealing in the foreign policy matters. H. R.McMaster, an Army Major, in his book, â€Å"Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam†, described 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson who followed the strategy known as â€Å"graduated pressure† 2 preventing discussions on the Vietnam War until the situation went out of control. The President’s conduct was not only undemocratic but also removed any chances of corrective measures. His decision was based on his predicament for his position as a President.Secondly his decision to consider bombings as an alternative solution to the war was based on his miscalculations regarding the impact bombings could create. Many people in the administration argued against bombings on the point that bombings would not make the way for —————————————————– 1. Karnow, Stanley, Vietnam: A History, (New York: Viking Press, 1983), 436 . 2. Young, Rick, Lessons of Vietnam: A Conversation With Major H. R. McMaster, PBS. org. , ( 27 March 2008)a peace process and assurance for Hanoi to induce North Vietnam to recede back in their support for insurgency. Pentagon too predicted grave reaction from the side of enemy on the ground but McNamara did not heed to their advice. For McNamara, the war was nothing more than another business management problem and he tried to solve it by air bombings. Without analyzing the current political, social and cultural situation among the forces, McNamara tried to solve the problem based on the assumptions that bombings on the fixed installations and economic buildings would make North Vietnamese succumb to their demands.The bombings on the fixed installations did not create any effect on the forces that were always on the move. Johnson, in the spring of 1965, without giving any concrete strategic motives, ordered the Joint Chief of Staff to â€Å"kill more Viet Cong,† 3 a tacti cal mission. It was never clear how these bombs over the noncombatant population could bring this War to an end. Johnson Lyndon did not follow the strategy conducive for the situation. H. R. McMaster, said that, â€Å"The process of determining the means to employ must begin with a clearly stated policy goal or objective.Senior military advisers and commanders should then develop a military strategy that contributes to or achieves that goal or objective. Then, military commanders determine the level of force necessary to carry out that strategy† 4 but during this war, Lyndon Johnson and his advisers moved according to their own whims resulting in failure. Harry Summers clearly blamed the failure of military leadership to understand the real nature of the Vietnam War. Moreover, the way the issue of such a sensitive nature was decided raised the questions on the real motive of the War itself on the domestic front.He further stated ————— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€ 3. & 4. Young, Rick, Lessons of Vietnam: A Conversation With Major H. R. McMaster, PBS. org. , ( 27 March 2008) that United States owe the failure to its incapacity to get congressional declaration of war. If it had been accomplished, the government would have gained public support and many legal sanctions to deal with their enemies. 5The reason that made Vietnam War emotionally devastating for the people in general is same as that of the attacks on World Trade Center on September 11. More over, the betrayal of America in the end gave it the reputation of not being loyal to its allies. Congress was not able to fulfill the Paris Peace Accord. And now this ongoing Iraq War has further resuscitated memories of the Vietnam War. Though Vietnam and Iraq have altogether been different conflicts and different situations but there are some similarities between the two.Two questions that come to the mind while dealing with the Iraq situation are: Fir stly, was it possible to have unilateral withdrawal when Richard Nixon took over the office and secondly, did the time require to fully accomplish Nixon’s purpose weakened the capabilities of the American people to maintain the results in what ever capacity they were? 6 When Nixon was holding the office of President-ship, there were more than 500, 000 United States troops in Vietnam, and their number was continuously increasing.Though Johnson administration had decided for the United States withdrawal after six months when North Vietnamese would withdraw, but the nature of the withdrawal was not agreed upon. There was still a doubt between the mutual withdrawal or unilateral withdrawal and no chance of diplomatic agreement could be clearly seen. Hanoi was insisting on obtaining a cease-fire but on the other ————————————————- 5. Summers, Harry, On Strategy, (Californ ia: Persidio Press, 1982), 17-19. 6.Kissinger, Henry, The lessons of Vietnam: Iraq desperately needs a political solution in the short term to make the war more manageable for the next president, Los Angeles Times,< http://www. latimes. com/news/opinion/la-oe-kissinger31may31,0,7527631. story> (27 March 2008) Hand, United States had to meet two conditions. Firstly, it had to overthrow the South Vietnamese Government, break up its police and army and form government based on Communism. Secondly, United States had to give an unconditional date and time to withdraw their troops.At this, Nixon was faced with two issues, â€Å"Shall we leave Vietnam in a way that — by our own actions — consciously turns the country over to the communists? Or shall we leave in a way that gives the South Vietnamese a reasonable choice to survive as a free people? † 7 When negotiations did not come to any conclusion, Nixon administration unilaterally between 1969 and 1972 withdrew 515,0 00 American troops, put an end to American ground combat in 1971 and reduced causalities to considerable degrees.The major advance took place in 1972 when the United States was able to isolate Hanoi regime by mining at North Vietnam’s harbors and Hanoi got defeated by South Vietnamese helped by the United States Air force. At this, Le Duc Tho, the principle negotiator of Hanoi accepted all the conditions placed by Nixon in 1972. The conditions at the Paris Peace agreement were, â€Å"An unconditional cease-fire and release of prisoners; continuation of the existing South Vietnamese government; continued U. S.economic and military help for it; no further infiltration of North Vietnamese forces; withdrawal of the remaining U. S. forces; and withdrawal of North Vietnamese forces from Laos and Cambodia†. 8 This agreement made Nixon administration to believe that it was able to achieve an opportunity to give South Vietnam a chance to decide the outcome and their fate. It wa s believed that now Saigon government would be able to handle any violations of the agreement, United States would give all assistance on any attacks and further South Vietnam would be able to form a conducive government.Kissinger rightly said that, â€Å"The imperatives of domestic debate ————————————————— 7 & 8, Kissinger, Henry, The lessons of Vietnam: Iraq desperately needs a political solution in the short term to make the war more manageable for the next president, Los Angeles Times, < http://www. latimes. com/news/opinion/la-oe-kissinger31may31,0,7527631. story> (27 March 2008) took precedence over geopolitical necessities. † 9 But these two basic points need specific consideration.Firstly, any strategic point cannot be fruitfully utilized unless a thorough study is undertaken on a ground root level and secondly, the decision should be a very calculate d move without causing any misconceptions on the common public. In Iraq, any kind of withdrawal would only lead to more disastrous results and even political situation is also not conducive. But the most appropriate approach is to create a situation for settlement taking into differing and varying views of opposition parties and forging a conducive environment looking at the social conditions at the time.That is the biggest lesson learnt from the mistakes during Vietnam War. Munich indirectly was responsible for the military attacks at Bosnia in 1995 and in Kosovo in 1999. Munich was an agreement signed in 1938 by the powerful nations of Europe. The Munich agreement was the basis on which America’s policy for tackling Sadam Hussain after September 11 was based on, and the situation was very conducive to adopt the Munich policy. Robert D Kaplan, who is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, made a comparative analysis of Munich and Vietnam.He said that, â€Å"Munich is ab out universalism, about taking care of the world and the lives of others, the Vietnam analogy—so prevalent following our overreach in Iraq—is domestic in spirit. † 10 He further said that Vietnam had its own limits but Munich’s was there to overcome these limits. But both the analogies cannot survive and can lead to dangerous consequences. The peaceful and concrete solution to any foreign policy dilemma can come to shape and fruitfully materialize only when both the analogies are treated and put to use equally. 9.Kissinger, Henry, The lessons of Vietnam: Iraq desperately needs a political solution in the short term to make the war more manageable for the next president, Los Angeles Times, < http://www. latimes. com/news/opinion/la-oe-kissinger31may31,0,7527631. story> (27 March 2008) 10. Kaplan, Robert D. , Foreign Policy: Munich Versus Vietnam, The Atlantic, < http://www. theatlantic. com/doc/200705u/vietnam-munich/2> (27 March 2008) Bibliography Kaplan, Robert D. , Foreign Policy: Munich Versus Vietnam, The Atlantic, < http://www. theatlantic. com/doc/200705u/vietnam-munich/2> (27 March 2008)Karnow, Stanley, Vietnam: A History, New York: Viking Press, 1983. Kissinger, Henry, The lessons of Vietnam: Iraq desperately needs a political solution in the short term to make the war more manageable for the next president. Los Angeles Times. < http://www. latimes. com/news/opinion/la-oe-kissinger31may31,0,7527631. story> (27 March 2008) McMaster, H. R. , Lessons of Vietnam: A Conversation With Major H. R. McMaster by Rick Young, PBS. org. , < http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/military/etc/lessons. html> (27 March 2008) Summers, Harry, On Strategy, California: Persidio Press, 1982.

Some Of The Fondest Memories I Have Of My Childhood Involved

Some of the fondest memories I have of my childhood involved my grandfather. My Papa; as my cousins, brother, and myself knew him; always had an active role in my childhood. Living only fifteen minutes away from my family at his small home in a tiny lake community, he constantly was on duty as babysitter, cook, driver as well as many other things. Papa would always help. He was known and admired for being helpful and loving to not only his family, but to the friends and community around him. Since I was born, he lived on a small lake called Babcock Lake in a camp nicknamed the Tucker Inn. For as long as I can remember my summers were spent in the private, hidden community around Tibbitt’s State Forest with him and my family. It was at†¦show more content†¦We all could live, love, and laugh together and my grandfather was an integral part of this. Unfortunately, in the year 2006, my grandfather was diagnosed with melanoma and had a tough road ahead of him. After the in itial surgeries and treatment, the prognosis was looking good. However after a simple procedure in Boston, my grandfather suffered a stroke, lost all his memory and would never recover. Visiting him during the final days is something I will never forget. How sad it was to see a man once so strong and active. A man that would lift weights in his late 60’s and ski and bike until his 70’s crippled by such a terrible disease. He passed away on May 27th of 2006 after 76 wonderful years life. His death was devastating as it was the first death of a family member I had experienced. Who knew life could be so precious? The end had ensued so quickly for my grandfather. Being exposed to this was tough for a nine-year-old to handle, but the memories from the few days following were ones that shaped my life forever. As a young catholic boy in a small town, my parents were quick to enlist me in the role as an alter server. This service preparation had shown me what a funeral was l ike. I had been to many and seen what most look like in the small town of Hoosick Falls. Some were well attended, but most would never fill up the church. I remember the morning of my grandfather’s funeral almost like it was yesterday. MyShow MoreRelatedChildhood Is The Most Beautiful Of All Life s Seasons1633 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Childhood is the most beautiful of all life’s seasons,† an anonymous author said. Childhood memories absolutely last a lifetime for every one of us, even though they are sometimes naà ¯ve and childish. As we grow older, we are happy to reminisce about the fondest moments in our childhood and at the same time we have the blues because of the childhood time that will never come back. Childhood plays an important part in my life as it has shaped me in my early years for who I am today. 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A High School Diploma Program - 1652 Words

It seems like everyone gets a high school diploma in the United States in the year 2016. Or do they? Is it necessary to to get a high school diploma? As a country, we have made some progress diminishing educational barriers such as race, gender, and geography but poverty is still a barrier that can keep a young adult from graduating from high school and in turn, continue the cycle of poverty. Does getting a high school diploma have any effect on â€Å"generational poverty†? Poverty is defined as â€Å"the state of being extremely poor.† (Oxford 699) In 2014, â€Å"21.1 percent of children under age 18 (15.5 million) in the United States lived in poverty. This group of children represent 23.3 percent of the total population and 33.3 percent of†¦show more content†¦Unique Stresses of Generational Poverty that Affect Education For a child living in poverty, stress can come in many forms. It is commonplace for the most basic needs such as food, shelter and safety to be the top concern. Because of the focus on surviving, anything that takes the child away from the home or requires work in another way, such as school and education, is not very well supported. Donna M. Beagle, who overcame generational poverty, wrote a very powerful report about her experiences. She mentions that appearances were very stressful when she did go to school, stating everyone could tell I was poor by my ragged clothes, horrible shoes, and free lunch tickets.† (Beagle 11) Ms. Beagle also mentions feeling very stressed about arriving on time to school (since she didn’t have transportation) and being able to complete school projects. To add to that, there is the possibility of a language barrier even if the same language is spoken. Without education and language development there are many variations of what is calle d â€Å"non-standard English†. Ms. Beagle said â€Å"I said ‘ain’t’ and confused ‘gone’ with ‘went’ and ‘seen’ with ‘saw’. I sensed that I was being judged as unintelligent by those around me.† (11) Many times families in generational poverty have their own â€Å"oral language tradition† where they may not know how to speak or write formally. â€Å"Often, children of poverty lack language skills needed for school. Their grammar