The effectiveness of the nation’s healthcare system is reflected by the infant death rate, which indicates social well-being. This paper provides a comparative analysis of child death rates between developing countries and developed, identifying their possible causes. Lastly, the paper addresses critical issues around community healthcare nurses and proposes tailored strategies.
Purpose Statement
This paper aims to analyze infant mortality rates between developing and developed countries, identify what is facilitating this, and provide ways to prevent these deaths.
Comparative Statistics:
Developed countries have low infant mortality rates, less than 5 per 1,000 live births while developing countries have a higher rate of 30 per 1,000 births, hence a global health disparity. Developed nations provide prenatal care for both pregnant women and infants and vital vaccinations, thus preventing death while developing countries have very limited facilities, primarily those in rural areas. The per capita income for developed countries’ residents is high. Therefore, better nutrition makes IMR much lower; on the contrary, there is poverty, malnutrition, and lack of enough food, creating room for disease and increasing mortality in infants. In developed countries, children enjoy different nutritious diets, strengthening their body’s immune systems and resulting in no infection (Shobande, 2019).
In contrast, limited food and poor diet are dominant in developing countries, making infant prone to infections that lead to their death. Expanded country’s governments facilitated infant health programs, such as child health interventions, which reduce IMR. Poor infrastructure for these programs has limited them in developing countries; hence, they are prone to infection, and they die.
The Epidemiologic Triangle
The Epidemiological triangle is used to identify the probable cause of a disease (Mills, 2020). In this scenario, the context of the agent, environment, and host are the factors that lead to high infant mortality rates. In identifying the probable causes, the host involves the mother and the infant, the environment, social factors, and health restrictions. At the same time, the agent is the disease and malnutrition. Host Factors (Mothers and Infants): The host is the mother. Her well-being has a direct impact on the overall infant’s health. This can be a challenging factor since the mother carries the baby during the pregnancy period, and breast the lack of proper maternal care and nutrition for the mother for the mother can lead to high infant mortality rates. Agent Factors- malnutrition and diseases- affect the infant and the mother directly. Poor dieting, lack of vaccination, and disease infection lead to poor health of the infant, hence high mortality rates. Social disparities, categorized as environmental factors that affect the infant, limit access to healthcare services such as treatments, immunization, and inadequate health infrastructure, and affect their health outcomes. This elevates high instances of infant mortality. As shown in the Epi Triangle below, this complex interplay with the high infant mortality rates in developed and developing countries. Hence, these challenges need to be addressed to improve health outcomes.
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Strategies for Community Healthcare Nurses
Community healthcare nurses have been significantly involved in reducing IMR by providing prenatal education to pregnant women and education on family hygiene, the importance of breastfeeding, and the need for vaccination. They also advocate for improving healthcare services and enhancing children’s bright futures by providing parental guidance (Heron, 2021). This involves the overall care of a child from pregnancy to infancy.
They have developed maternal Education Programs that have helped educate mothers on prenatal care, how to give birth safely, nutrition, and reduce death during pregnancy and childbirth. They have also improved Vaccination Programs to lower child infection with deadly diseases such as polio early, reducing deaths. Community Outreach Initiatives have assisted in reaching children in rural areas, offering interventions to prevent disease outbreaks, hence reducing death rates (Cheng et al., 2020). Support Socio-economic Changes by addressing poverty and creating environmental support for mothers and infants. Enhancing Telehealth Services, which facilitate access to health services remotely, allows for monitoring patients, providing guidance, and reducing barriers.
In conclusion, many differences arise between the infant mortality rates of developed and developing countries. Hence, several interventions have been made to reduce this issue. They are involving community health nurses to provide different services. This shows their essential role in preventing infant deaths.
References
Cheng, H., Eames-Brown, R., Tutt, A., Laws, R., Blight, V., McKenzie, A., Rossiter, C., Campbell, K., Sim, K., Fowler, C., Seabury, R., & Denney-Wilson, E. (2020). Promoting healthy weight for all young children: a mixed methods study of child and family health nurses’ perceptions of barriers and how to overcome them. BMC Nursing, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-020-00477-z
Heron, M. (2021, May 17). Deaths: Leading Causes for 2018. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104186
Mills, R. M. (2020). Chagas Disease: Epidemiology and Barriers to Treatment. The American Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.05.022
Rhee, C., & Klompas, M. (2020). Sepsis trends: increasing incidence and decreasing mortality, or changing denominator? Journal of Thoracic Disease, 12(S1), S89–S100. https://doi.org/10.21037/jtd.2019.12.51
Shobande, O. A. (2019). The Effects of Energy Use on Infant Mortality Rates in Africa. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 5, 100015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2019.100015
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