Being a third world country, the Philippines struggle with an unfortunate amount of health issues and an imbalance in their society. It is said that centuries of colonisation, regular natural disasters, years of military and Government dictatorship as well as a fast growing population (the current population of the Philippines is 98,734,798 people) is what has lead the Philippines to such a bad state.
Filipinos can be defined in one of two ways, rich or poor. Many people live in the cities and have good jobs, are able to send their children to expensive private schools, put food on the table and then have some money left over to pay for maids, cars, two story houses and technology. On the other hand, there are people living in the Philippines that are lucky to own a shack otherwise they sleep under bridges. They do not have well-paid jobs and struggle to feed their families three goods meals a day. As you can see, there is a great difference between the two, and there is no real in between. A survey conducted earlier this year found that out of 10.6 million families, 52% were below the poverty line whilst 39% stated that they were food-poor. Even though this survey was not taken by the whole of the Philippines, it still shows a clear percentage of those who are poor, and those who are not.
One of the biggest health issues in the Philippines is malnutrition, the worst cases being in children. Sadly, there are many people that do not have enough money to be able to afford dinner for themselves or their family and are therefore forced to either have nothing or eat out of the rubbish. Because of this, there are more people who are extremely underweight than people who are healthy or overweight. Children are the worst receivers of malnutrition, in fact, 3.6 million children of 0-5 years are extremely underweight while 4 million are unable to grow properly because of it. This malnutrition soon leads to a damaged health, physical growth and irreversible brain development, giving the child a large disadvantage in school and life in general.
Child mortality and childbirth related deaths are another health issue that the Philippines continue to fight with. An estimated 11 woman die every day due to complications during childbirth whilst every 29 out of 1,000 children under the age of 5 die due to prematurity, severe infection and malnutrition. Although over a decade these rates have dropped by 49%, it is still not a very good figure and the Government hopes to further decreases these figures in the next few years.
One of the most unsanitary places to live in the Philippines is Smokey Mountain. This is a manmade mountain comprising of Metro Manilas rubbish; it received its name after the smoke emitted from both the rubbish and the factories nearby. Thousands of Filipinos call Smokey Mountain home and search through the rubbish just in case they can find anything valuable that they can sell. Everything about Smokey Mountain is unsanitary, even their drinking water, when not properly filtered, can cause you to develop AIDs and issues to your stomach and skin. Despite these awful living conditions, the Filipinos who live there have no other choice and over time, have come to get used to it. Although people would assume that these Filipinos are unhappy with their way of life, they describe each other as true, dignified and unified. (Smokey Mountain, 1994).
Other health issues that Filipinos suffer from include:
Filipinos can be defined in one of two ways, rich or poor. Many people live in the cities and have good jobs, are able to send their children to expensive private schools, put food on the table and then have some money left over to pay for maids, cars, two story houses and technology. On the other hand, there are people living in the Philippines that are lucky to own a shack otherwise they sleep under bridges. They do not have well-paid jobs and struggle to feed their families three goods meals a day. As you can see, there is a great difference between the two, and there is no real in between. A survey conducted earlier this year found that out of 10.6 million families, 52% were below the poverty line whilst 39% stated that they were food-poor. Even though this survey was not taken by the whole of the Philippines, it still shows a clear percentage of those who are poor, and those who are not.
One of the biggest health issues in the Philippines is malnutrition, the worst cases being in children. Sadly, there are many people that do not have enough money to be able to afford dinner for themselves or their family and are therefore forced to either have nothing or eat out of the rubbish. Because of this, there are more people who are extremely underweight than people who are healthy or overweight. Children are the worst receivers of malnutrition, in fact, 3.6 million children of 0-5 years are extremely underweight while 4 million are unable to grow properly because of it. This malnutrition soon leads to a damaged health, physical growth and irreversible brain development, giving the child a large disadvantage in school and life in general.
Child mortality and childbirth related deaths are another health issue that the Philippines continue to fight with. An estimated 11 woman die every day due to complications during childbirth whilst every 29 out of 1,000 children under the age of 5 die due to prematurity, severe infection and malnutrition. Although over a decade these rates have dropped by 49%, it is still not a very good figure and the Government hopes to further decreases these figures in the next few years.
One of the most unsanitary places to live in the Philippines is Smokey Mountain. This is a manmade mountain comprising of Metro Manilas rubbish; it received its name after the smoke emitted from both the rubbish and the factories nearby. Thousands of Filipinos call Smokey Mountain home and search through the rubbish just in case they can find anything valuable that they can sell. Everything about Smokey Mountain is unsanitary, even their drinking water, when not properly filtered, can cause you to develop AIDs and issues to your stomach and skin. Despite these awful living conditions, the Filipinos who live there have no other choice and over time, have come to get used to it. Although people would assume that these Filipinos are unhappy with their way of life, they describe each other as true, dignified and unified. (Smokey Mountain, 1994).
Other health issues that Filipinos suffer from include:
- Pneumonia – An increase in colder months has led to many people developing pneumonia and has caused quite a few deaths due to people’s unawareness of it.
- Dengue fever – A disease transmitted by mosquitos, dengue fever is endemic and Filipinos are at risk more during the rainy season (May to November). In 2012, it was recorded that 87,649 people had developed the disease whilst 522 people died because of it.
- Drug addiction – With over 3.5 million regular drug users in the Philippines, many Filipinos are guilty when it comes to illegal drug addiction.
- Malaria – Lack of accessibility to medical care as well as the money to afford it has led Filipinos, particularly those who live in villages and remote areas to develop malaria.