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i2P stages world class expeditions in remarkable locations around the globe and delivers the experience to your classroom. i2P has created a unique interactive environment, that enlists students on the expedition team, as well as the local geography, history and culture to serve as the matrix for a unique experiential education opportunity. i2P is dedicated to establishing means to stretch the boundaries of traditional education by linking the experiences of the expedition to those elements of science, history and culture that serve as the foundation of the life skills necessary to achieve success both in the field and in everyday life.

For an orientation to the i2P Chemistry Education Resource please see Module 1:

Introduction Module 1 Education Themes
Introduction
  1. Health & Population
  2. Health, Exercise & Nutrition
  3. Health, Wealth & Poverty
  4. Health & Government
  5. Health & the Environment
  6. The Future of World Health

A list of all the modules is located at the bottom of this page.

1. Health & Population

In this section i2P looks at the effect of human population, and population growth on our ability to provide healthcare to the people of the world. Please review the material and answer the two questions in this section.

Purpose

To illustrate the link between health, population and population growth.

Doctor Availability

In 2008 the United States had 660,000 doctors meaning 1 doctor for every 467 people (provider:patient ratios of 1:467). In comparison, India has 1 doctor for every 1,700 people, much lower than the global average of 1.5 doctors to every 1,000 patients. The rate of population growth combined with relatively low medical school intake indicates that India may have a physician deficit of 954,000 by 2031. Not only is India at risk for a shortage of doctors, but some regions of India are so remote that they do not have access to physicians, instead relying on community health workers (CHW). CHWs include village health workers, community health aides and lay health advisors.

School Question 1

What is the ratio of doctors to population in your community?

Calculate the number of doctors per population and submit below. This number is obtained by the number of doctors in your community by the number of population in your community. This will be compared to the doctor/population ratio in other participating communities, in India and around the world.

Example calculation:
There is an estimated 537929 doctors in India. India's total population is estimated to be 1,050,000,000. In India, the average number of doctors per person is = (537,929) / (1,050,000,000) = 0.00005. This is a small ratio of doctors per person, and to make comparison easier to understand, it is often reported as the number of doctors per 1000 people. Therefore, if there are 0.00005 doctors per person in the country, then the number of doctors per 1000 people = 0.0005 X 1000 = 0.5. Submit the number of doctors per 1000 people for your community.

Submit Your Answer
doctors per 1000 people



Birth Rate

Birth rate is the number of children born per 1,000 people per year. Conversely, the death rate is the number of deaths per 1,000 people per year. As you can expect, if birth rate is higher than death rate, the population will rise, and this is what humans have been experiencing to increasing amounts in recent times. Many of your parents will have seen the world population more than double over their lifetimes, from 3 billion people in the early 1960s, to what will be 7 billion people by the end of 2011. At the dawn of civilization, about 10,000 B.C., when we were first starting to cultivate crops, domesticate animals, and settle in towns, the world population was only 1 million people. Even with an increase in population due to food surplus from farms, world population was still only 200 million by A.D. 1. It took until 1804 to reach 1 billion people. The concept of Carrying Capacity (the amount of people that we can sustain on earth). With world population scheduled to keep growing and reach 9 billion by 2050, we will be hard-pressed to find enough land to grow food for an extra 2 billion people. The ability to provide healthcare becomes challenging with population growth, as health resources become less plentiful.


World human population (est.) 10,000 BC–Present time (source: EI T)

School Question 2

How many births are there each year at the hospital in your community?

Submit your response below. This will be compared to birthrates in participating communities, in India and around the world.

Example calculation:
There is an estimated 25,780,000 births per year in India. India's total population is estimated to be 1,050,000,000. To compare birth rates in a country or community, please submit a value for the number of births per 1000 people in your community. For example, using the data for India, the number of births per year per 1000 people = (25,780,000) / (1,050,000,000) X 1000 = 25.

Submit Your Answer
births per year per 1000 people


2. Health, Exercise & Nutrition

In this section i2P looks at the effect of activity & nutrition on human health, and inactive people with a poor diet & the strain on healthcare resources. Please review the material and answer the question in this section.

Purpose

To demonstrate the link between health, exercise and nutrition.

Childhood Activity & Nutrition

Childhood activity and exercise is at an all-time low, worldwide. Lower activity rates mean higher obesity rates, and the fact that diets are worsening doesn't help either. Canada and the US are mired in an epidemic of obesity, and it is only getting worse. One in three North American children are either overweight or obese. Television, video games and the internet are major causes of inactivity among youth. Many cash-strapped public schools in North America are also cutting out daily physical education classes, making it difficult for youth to get their required daily exercise. Cheap and readily available fast-food that is high in fat, starch and sugar has led to poor diets among youth.

Historically, India has been a different story than North America, but recently is undergoing change. Children in large towns and cities in India are finding it increasingly difficult to get out and play as playgrounds are changed to skyscrapers, resulting in urban youth obesity rates nearly as high as those in North America. Diets of fast food are replacing healthier traditional country diets as more and more families are moving into cities. Adding to the problem is the widespread misconception in India and other developing countries that an obese child is a healthy child. Parents believe that their kids will grow out of their "baby fat," but frequently this is not the case. It is the same around the world wherever child obesity is a problem.

Most overweight and obese kids deal with the same problems once they grow up. Excess body fat is directly linked to a wide range of serious and life-threatening health disorders. In the USA, obesity is the #2 cause of preventable death, ranked right after smoking. With some projections saying half of kids in the USA will be overweight or obese by 2025, immediate action is needed, and it is shown that prevention is more effective than treatment. Canada and India must also take action, as their situation isn't much better.

Source: World Health Organization

School Question

What is the amount of physical activity the students in your class do in a week?

Take the sum of this activity and divide by the number of students. This will provide the average amount of activity per student in your class.

Physical activity is defined as bodily exertion that results in the development or maintenance of physical and mental health.

Submit your response below. This will be compared to activity rates in participating communities, in India and around the world.

Example calculation:
Add together all of the hours that each student in your class participated in exercise this week, and then divide that number by the total number of students in your class. For example, in a class of 20 students, 10 students played 2 hours of soccer on a team per week, and 8 students participated for 3 hours each in field hockey per week, and all 20 students participated in school-physical education for another 2.5 hours per week each. The average number of hours per week that each student participated in a physical activity = [(10 X 2) + (8 X 3) + (20 X 2.5)] / 20 = 4.7.

Submit Your Answer
hours per week


3. Health, Wealth & Poverty

In this section i2P looks at the effect of wealth and poverty on healthcare. Poverty is one of the leading causes of poor health outcomes. Please review the material and answer the questions in this section.

Purpose

To illustrate the link between poverty and poor health.

Childbirth

Uncomplicated childbirth occurs approximately 40 weeks after a child is conceived. Nearly 4.2 million babies were born in the United States in 2008 compared to 27 million babies born in India in 2009.

There can be many complications of childbirth including infections, blood loss and death for both mother and child. In Western countries it is estimated that 9 mothers and 7 children out of 100,000 die during childbirth. In contrast in India the maternal death rate is 540 out of 100,000 deliveries and the fetal death rate is 61 out of 100,000 deliveries.

In the United States the average cost of an uncomplicated childbirth cost $8,800 (2007)5. The cost of childbirth in India depends upon many factors but can average between 2,000 - 10,000 rupees ($40 - $200 US dollars).

School Question 1

What is the cost of birth or delivery of a healthy child at your local hospital?

Submit your response below. This will be compared to the cost of a delivery in participating communities, in India and around the world.

Submit Your Answer




Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that most commonly affects the lungs but may also affect other body systems. A person can contract TB when they inhale air droplets from a cough or sneeze of another person with an active TB infection. Children, the elderly, people with compromised immune systems and people who have poor nutrition or live in crowded areas have an increased risk of contracting TB. TB can live in the body without causing symptoms (i.e. a "latent" case) or can cause TB disease with symptoms including a bad cough that lasts for three weeks or longer, chest pain, and a cough that is bloody. Less severe symptoms of TB include weakness, fatigue, weight loss, chills and fever. Latent TB can be treated with 9 months of a medication to prevent symptoms from occurring. Active cases of TB require 6 to 12 months of treatment with multiple drugs, which can make active cases difficult and expensive to treat. In the US and Canada, rates of TB are relatively low (2,000-14,000 people in 2009) and people rarely die from TB (79-500 people per year in 2009). In contrast, nearly 3 million people in India had TB and 280,000 died from TB in 2009.

There is a link between poverty and TB rates.

Source: World Health Organization

School Question 2

How many cases of TB (tuberculosis) were there in your community in the past 5 years?

This information should be available by talking to your local public health department. Submit your response below. This will be compared to TB rates in participating communities, in India and around the world. The link between TB rates and poverty will be evaluated.

Submit Your Answer



4. Health & Government

In this section i2P looks at the manner in which governments manage healthcare systems. Different management approaches can have a profound impact upon what health services citizens of different countries have. Please review the material and answer the question in this section.

Purpose

To illustrate that the manner in which governments manage healthcare affects the quality of care available.

How Health Care is Run

Healthcare services differ from country to country around the world. These differences are based on a number of factors, one being the manner in which different governments manage the healthcare system of their country. Healthcare varies around the world based on social and economic conditions. In Canada, health care is universal, meaning that healthcare is provided equally to all Canadians. Healthcare in Canada is publicly funded and other than select items such as prescription medications, dentistry, and vision care,3 is paid for by the government through taxes. Like Canada, India's health care system is universal. However, due to overpopulation and underfunding of the healthcare system, many citizen's of India cannot get access to government funded healthcare. In the United States, health care is a mixed system where federal, state and local government pays for 45% of US healthcare with the remainder of healthcare costs being paid by employer health insurance, private health insurance or out-of-pocket (by the patient). Therefore, in the United States, healthcare may be limited for people who are unemployed and cannot afford to pay health care costs directly.

School Question

As a class please consider, debate and arrive at a collective answer for the following question:

Who should be responsible for assuring that the citizens of your community have health coverage?

  1. The government
  2. The private individual
  3. The employer
  4. Other

Submit your response below. This will be compared with answers from other participating schools.

Submit Your Answer



5. Health & the Environment

In this section i2P looks at the effect of the environment on human health. Environmental degradation can negatively impact human health. Please review the material and answer the question in this section.

Purpose

To illustrate the link between health and the environment.

Asthma

Asthma is the chronic inflammatory disease of the airway and lungs. The exact cause of asthma is not known, but it is believed to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Having a family history of asthma is the main risk factor for developing the disease. However environmental risks such as poor air quality from pollution is a contributing factor making asthma symptoms worse. Asthma rates are increased by airborne allergens (ie. pollen), air pollution, and second hand tobacco smoke. Asthma is also related to and made worse by obesity. High rates of asthma are currently associated with developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, where large portions of the population live in higher risk urban settings where they are exposed to more pollution. In developing countries such as India, asthma rates are increasing with increasing rates of urbanization and industrialization. There are currently 300 million asthmatics worldwide. It is expected that this number will reach 400 million by the year 2025, with worldwide urban asthma rates increasing from 45% to 59%. Improved delivery of affordable treatments could have a large impact on countries such as India, where less than 1% of asthmatics receive the treatment they need.

School Question 1

What is the percent of students in your classroom that suffer from asthma?

This is accomplished by dividing the number of students with asthma by the total number of students in the classroom.

Submit your response below. This result will be compared to asthma rates in other participating schools, communities in India and around the world.

Submit Your Answer




Drinking Water

With a fast-growing population, there is a huge strain on the clean drinking water supply in India. The water crisis in India is a manmade problem, since the country doesn't currently lack fresh water sources (from monsoon rains and glacier melt in the Himalayas– although disappearing glaciers and new erratic weather patterns will change this in the future). Mismanagement of the resource and human and industrial waste cause reliance on highly polluted wells for drinking water within many Indian municipalities. In India, 21% of communicable diseases are spread through unsafe water, and diarrhea caused by polluted water causes 1,600 deaths daily.

In the southern USA, fresh drinking water supply is also facing challenges. For example, Lake Mead, the source of drinking water for much of California, is drying up. Having a large demand for both drinking water and for water for farm irrigation, there isn't enough water to go around for southwest states. Agricultural runoff, (water washing fertilizer and pesticides off of farmland into drinking water sources) also poses a major problem for the USA.

In the US and Canada, municipal water purity is strictly regulated and treated to ensure clean water for everyone. Water treatment to ensure clean drinking water includes filtration, removing sediments, and adding chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride (fluoride is added to drinking water to help prevent tooth decay). For Canada, a bountiful water supply from numerous glaciers and lakes (Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined), the country's current fresh drinking water situation is safe and reliable.

School Question 2

Please answer the following question:

What is the source of the water that you drink at your school?

  1. Tap (municipal water)
  2. Store
  3. River/Lake/Stream
  4. Well

Submit your response on the response hot-link. This response will be compared to results from other participating schools, communities in India and around the world.

Submit Your Answer



6. The Future of World Health

In this section i2P looks at the future of healthcare and asked whether world healthcare systems are sustainable. Please review the supporting material and answer the questions in this section.

Purpose

To examine future strategies for providing quality healthcare.

Education Theme #6 - The Future of Health Care from GOi2P on Vimeo.

Polio Vaccination

Poliomyelitis, or polio for short, is a viral disease passed from person to person that affects the nervous system and can cause partial or full paralysis. The first serious polio outbreaks occurred in the 19th century in Europe, and soon thereafter it was widespread around the world. There are no medications to treat Polio, and the disease caused widespread illness and disability until it was discovered that it can be prevented with a vaccination. The first Polio vaccine was developed by American medical researcher Jonas Salk in 1952, and introduced to the celebration the world over. With an effective vaccine, and with the finalization of an even more effective oral vaccine polio was all but eradicated in the USA by 1962. Today, unless brought in from another country, polio is nonexistent in North America. However, it is still widespread in many locations in the world including India. Through aggressive vaccination of youth in India it is hoped the virus will soon be eradicated.

Reported Polio Cases in 2005 :: Source: Wikipedia
Country Cases Transmission
Nigeria 830 Endemic
Yemen 478 Importation
Indonesia 303 Importation
Somalia 185 Importation
India 66 Endemic
Pakistan 27 Endemic
Sudan 27 Re-Established Transmission
Ethiopia 22 Importation
Angola 10 Importation
Niger 10 Importation
Afghanistan 9 Endemic
Nepal 4 Importation
Mali 3 Importation
Chad, Eritrea, Cameroon 1 ea Importation

School Question 1

What percentage of your class members have been vaccinated for polio?

Establish the number who have had a polio vaccination and divide by the total number of students in your classroom.

Submit your response below. This will be compared to activity rates in participating communities, in India and around the world.

Submit Your Answer




Digital X-Ray Technology - PACS System

When you go for a chest x-ray at a hospital a technician takes an image of your chest that can reveal important information about your heart and lungs. Traditionally this image was created when x-rays (radiation) was passed through your chest onto a photographic film. In order to see the image the photographic film needed to be held up to a light. X-ray films are very heavy and cumbersome and must be stored in large folders or jackets. The only way to view a traditional x-ray image is by looking at the film.

In 1982 scientists began developing means of storing x-ray images in a digital format on computers. By storing them in a digital format, x-ray images can then be transferred from one computer to another over large distances. This technology, called Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) allows an x-ray taken in a remote community to be read by an x-ray specialist (radiologist) anywhere in the world!

PACS systems allow health care workers an efficient means of providing quality diagnostic imaging without having to move cumbersome films or patients. This in turn allows for better and more rapid and cost effective health service.

School Question 2

Does the hospital located nearest to your school have Digital X-Ray Technology (Picture Archiving and Communication System)?

A PACS system allows x-ray images to be taken using digital technology and stored on a computer.

Submit your response on the response hot-link. This will be compared to activity rates in participating communities, in India and around the world.

Submit Your Answer