Impact of Globalization on Health Sector

 Impact of Globalization on Health Sector

Globalization is a process of change that affects all regions of the world, in a variety of areas including the economy, politics, education, culture and environment. Globalization is also a process of fundamental transformation leading humanity into a new era. The term is very limited when referring mainly to issues of trade and investment.

 Globalization is a set of  processes by which the word is being integrated into one  economic entity through international trade. This has been possible due to internationalization of production and financial markets and the internationalization of a 'commodity culture' promoted by the network of Global Telecommunication. 

Globalization has  a wide ranging potential to influence all sectors, besides its impact on the pace and pattern of economic development, it has also cast its shadow on the whole human system.

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". WHO

Good health is central to handling stress and living a longer, and a more active life. 

It is important to approach “health” as a whole, rather than as a series of separate factors. All types of health are linked, people should strive for an overall well-being .

Health is wealth, a proverb we all know, and in order to have a healthy body people like never before, in the recent years have resort to various mechanism like:

• Follow Healthy diet.
• Very cautious of food they consume.
• Strict exercise
• Regular check up

       

• Health care has been of utmost importance from time immemorial.

• Health care facilities are accessible to all irrespective of caste or creed or gender.  

• In India, Government has decentralized the health care facility thus enabling all to have equal access to health care.

From the lowest to the Private Owned Super Specialty Hospitals All across India.

Kerala, is an exception to the rest of India, Since 1970’s we see a rise in the consciousness of the population to avail health care facilities, be it Ayurvedic medicines, Allopathic medicines, Homoeopathy, or other alternative medicines for various diseases.

• POSITIVE IMPACT ON HEALTH CARE

• Improved Health care facility: Today each and every country is striving to deliver world class health care to its people. In India for the past 2 decades health care has been given due importance. newer machines, new technologies have been incorporated and augmented from time to time.
• Decentralization of Health care system: In India the decentralization of Health care have been effectively done, from Community centers to Primary health center, Taluk hospitals, District Hospitals to Medical Collages, all these institutions are aided by the concerned government.
• Private Health care system: In India Private hospitals are encouraged, so the mushrooming of private health care is fast, these institutions often provided personal care, up to date medical facility. That are often accessed by all.
• Different types of Health care: there are various kinds of treatment; Ayurvedic medicines, Allopathic medicines, Homoeopathy, or other alternative medicines people avail them. Many of these Hospitals are government run hospitals
• General awareness about medicine and Diseases: the Information and technology have enabled everyone to access about various kinds of diseases , keep themselves aware and updated, they also avail new medicines.
• Research Work: Unlike yesteryears in the past decade or so medical research are on an increase especially with viruses like Ebola, Nippa and COVID-19. the R & D in many Hospitals are functioning Well.
• Modern Medical care: New Innovative machines like, Newer Versions of Scanning machines, Smart inhalers, Wireless brain sensors, 3-D printing, CRISPR which is the most advanced gene-editing technology, Telehealth ,VR devices, Robotic Surgery, Keyhole surgery.

• NEGATIVE IMPACT ON HEALTH CARE

• Affordability: The super specialty hospitals are not affordable to the majority of the population.
• Price Hike of Medicines: Medicines have become much costlier making common man's accessibility to latest medicines impossible. 
• Wide Spread of Diseases: Spread of Diseases world wide due to inter continental network of people and increases transportation.
• Health Personals Issues: often Health workers, Doctors, nurses other work related members are  not treated well and are often denied wages on time leading to a lot of protests which hampers the smooth functioning of the  Hospitals.
• Quacks & other Fake medicines: along with mushrooming of the hospital many  quacks are found.

The mentioned are few of the impact of globalization on health care.

INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

 

INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

IBRD

Introduction:

The world’s largest development bank, IBRD provides financial products and policy advice to help countries reduce poverty and extend the benefits of sustainable growth to all of their people. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, it supports the World Bank Group’s mission by providing loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, as well as by coordinating responses to regional and global challenges.

The World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The president of the World Bank is, traditionally, an American. The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D.C., and work closely with each other.

The intention behind the founding of the World Bank was to provide temporary loans to low-income countries which were unable to obtain loans commercially. The Bank may also make loans and demand policy reforms from recipients.

Organization:

The World Bank is like a cooperative, made up of 189 member countries. These member countries, or shareholders, are represented by a Board of Governors, who are the ultimate policymakers at the World Bank. Generally, the governors are member countries' ministers of finance or ministers of development. They meet once a year at the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.

The governors delegate specific duties to 25 Executive Directors, who work on-site at the Bank. The five largest shareholders appoint an executive director, while other member countries are represented by elected executive directors.

The World Bank Group President chairs meetings of the Boards of Directors and is responsible for overall management of the Bank. The President is selected by the Board of Executive Directors for a five-year, renewable term.

The Executive Directors make up the Boards of Directors of the World Bank. They normally meet at least twice a week to oversee the Bank's business, including approval of loans and guarantees, new policies, the administrative budget, country assistance strategies and borrowing and financial decisions.

The World Bank operates day-to-day under the leadership and direction of the president, management and senior staff, and the vice presidents in charge of Global Practices, Cross-Cutting Solutions Areas, regions, and functions.

In time, the focus shifted from reconstruction to development, with a heavy emphasis on infrastructure such as dams, electrical grids, irrigation systems, and roads.  With the founding of the International Finance Corporation in 1956, the institution became able to lend to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries.  And the founding of the International Development Association in 1960 put greater emphasis on the poorest countries, part of a steady shift toward the eradication of poverty becoming the Bank Group’s primary goal.  The subsequent launch of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency further rounded out the Bank Group’s ability to connect global financial resources to the needs of developing countries.

Today the Bank Group’s work touches nearly every sector that is important to fighting poverty, supporting economic growth, and ensuring sustainable gains in the quality of people’s lives in developing countries.  While sound project selection and design remain paramount, the Bank Group recognizes a wide range of factors that are critical to success—effective institutions, sound policies, continuous learning through evaluation and knowledge-sharing, and partnership, including with the private sector.  The Bank Group has long-standing relationships with more than 180 member countries, and it taps these to address development challenges that are increasingly global.  On critical issues like climate change, pandemics, and forced migration, the Bank Group plays a leading role because it is able to convene discussion among its country members and a wide array of partners.  It can help address crises while building the foundations for longer-term, sustainable development.

The evolution of the Bank Group has also been reflected in the diversity of its multidisciplinary staff, who include economists, public policy experts, sector experts, and social scientists, based at headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in the field.

IBRD Mission

To end extreme poverty:

By reducing the share of the global population that lives in extreme poverty to 3 percent by 2030.

To promote shared prosperity:

By increasing the incomes of the poorest 40 percent of people in every country.

One World Bank Group:

Five institutions have their own country membership, governing boards, and articles of agreement, they  work as one to serve the partner countries. 

IBRD

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

IDA

The International Development Association

IFC

The International Finance Corporation

MIGA

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency

ICSID

The International Centre for Settlement of I Pic Courtesy :worldbank.org

Where does IBRD Work?

The World Bank Group works in more than 170 countries, working with partners in the public and private sectors in their efforts to end poverty and tackle some of the most pressing development challenges.

President of IBRD:

David R. Malpass, an American economist was selected as 13th President of the World Bank Group by its Board of Executive Directors on April 5, 2019.  His five-year term began on April 9.

David R. Malpass

Boards of Governors:

The Boards of Governors consist of one Governor and one Alternate Governor appointed by each member country. The office is usually held by the country's minister of finance, governor of its central bank, or a senior official of similar rank. The Governors and Alternates serve for terms of five years and can be reappointed.   

If the country is a member of the Bank and is also a member of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) or the International Development Association (IDA), then the appointed Governor and his or her alternate serve ex-officio as the Governor and Alternate on the IFC and IDA Boards of Governors. They also serve as representatives of their country on the Administrative Council of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) unless otherwise noted. Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) Governors and Alternates are appointed separately.

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Notes compiled from
https://www.worldbank.org/

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International Monitory Fund (IMF)

 

International Monitory Fund (IMF)

Founding and mission:

The IMF was conceived in July 1944 at the United Nations Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, United States.

Head Quarters at Washington D.C Pic Courtesy Wikipedia                            IMF Logo 

The 44 countries sought to build a framework for international economic cooperation and avoid repeating the competitive currency devaluations that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The IMF's primary mission is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries and their citizens to transact with each other.

Pic Courtesy IMF website 

Surveillance:

In order to maintain stability and prevent crises in the international monetary system, the IMF monitors member country policies as well as national, regional, and global economic and financial developments through a formal system known as surveillance.

The IMF provides advice to member countries and promotes policies designed to foster economic stability, reduce vulnerability to economic and financial crises, and raise living standards.

 It also provides periodic assessments of global prospects in its World Economic Outlook, of financial markets in its Global Financial Stability Report, of public finance developments in its Fiscal Monitor.

Financial assistance: 

Providing loans to member countries that are experiencing actual or potential balance-of-payments problems is a core responsibility of the IMF.

Individual country adjustment programs are designed in close cooperation with the IMF and are supported by IMF financing..

In response to the global economic crisis, in April 2009 the IMF strengthened its lending capacity and approved a major overhaul of its financial support mechanisms, with additional reforms adopted in subsequent years.

 These changes enhanced the IMF’s crisis-prevention toolkit, bolstering its ability to mitigate contagion during systemic crises and allowing it to better tailor instruments to meet the needs of individual member countries.

Loan resources available to low-income countries were sharply increased in 2009, while average limits under the IMF’s concessional loan facilities were doubled.

Capacity development:

The IMF provides technical assistance and training to help member countries build better economic institutions and strengthen related human capacities.

This includes, designing and implementing more effective policies for taxation and administration, expenditure management, monetary and exchange rate policies, banking and financial system supervision and regulation, legislative frameworks, and economic statistics.

Organization & Finances:

The IMF has a management team and 17 departments that carry out its country, policy, analytical, and technical work. One department is charged with managing the IMF’s resources. This section also explains where the IMF gets its resources and how they are used.

Management

The IMF has a Managing Director, who is head of the staff and Chairperson of the Executive Board. The Managing Director is appointed by the Executive Board for a renewable term of five years and is assisted by a First Deputy Managing Director and three Deputy Managing Directors.

Staff

The IMF’s employees come from all over the world; they are responsible to the IMF and not to the authorities of the countries of which they are citizens. The IMF staff is organized mainly into area; functional; and information, liaison, and support responsibilities.

IMF Resources

Most resources for IMF loans are provided by member countries, primarily through their payment of quotas.

Quotas

Quota subscriptions are a central component of the IMF’s financial resources. Each member country of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative position in the world economy.

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)

The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves.

Special drawing rights (SDRs) are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). SDRs are units of account for the IMF, and not a currency per se. They represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged.

While the ISO 4217 currency code for special drawing rights is XDR, they are often referred to by their acronym SDR. Both refer to the name "special drawing rights".

Gold

Gold remains an important asset in the reserve holdings of several countries, and the IMF is still one of the world’s largest official holders of gold.

Borrowing Arrangements

While quota subscriptions of member countries are the IMF's main source of financing, the Fund can supplement its quota resources through borrowing if it believes that they might fall short of members' needs.

Resources:

Member quotas are the primary source of IMF financial resources.

 A member’s quota broadly reflects its size and position in the world economy.

 The IMF regularly conducts general reviews of quotas. The lastest review (the 14thReview) was concluded in 2010 and the quota increases became effective in 2016.

This review doubled quota resources to SDR 477 billion (about US$661 billion).

 In addition, credit arrangements between the IMF and a group of members and institutions provide supplementary resources of up to about SDR 182 billion ($253 billion), and are the main backstop to quotas.

As a third line of defence, member countries have also committed resources to the IMF through bilateral borrowing agreements, totaling about SDR 317 billion ($440 billion).

Governance and organization:

The IMF is accountable to its member country governments.

At the top of its organizational structure is the Board of Governors , consisting of one governor and one alternate governor from each member country, usually the top officials from the central bank or finance ministry.

The Board of Governors meets once a year at the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings .

Twenty-four of the governors serve on the International Monetary and Financial Committee, or IMFC, which advises the IMF's Executive Board on the supervision and management of the international monetary and financial system.

The day-to-day work of the IMF is overseen by its 24-member Executive Board , which represents the entire membership and supported by IMF staff.

 The Managing Director is the head of the IMF staff and Chair of the Executive Board and is assisted by four Deputy Managing Directors.

Kristalina Georgieva was selected Managing Director of the IMF on September 25, 2019. She assumed her position on October 1, 2019.

Mr. Geoffrey Okamoto as First Deputy Managing Director, effective March 19, 2020. 

Deputy Managing Director                                               Antoinette Sayeh

Deputy Managing Director                                               Mitsuhiro Furusawa

Deputy Managing Director                                               Tao Zhang

Economic Counsellor and Research Department Director   Gita Gopinath

Resource compiled from

https://www.imf.org

 

The compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole

- Roland Robertson

Roland Robertson was born in 1938 in Scotland, United Kingdom. He is a sociologist and theorist of globalization who lectures at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, United Kingdom.

Formerly, he was a professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, and in 1988 he was the President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion.

·        According to him Globalization has developed rapidly in the information age.

·        He opines that Globalization has a significant pre –history.

·        For Robertson, the most interesting aspect of our modern (or postmodern) era is the way in which a global consciousness has developed.

He lays down a progression of "phases" that capture the central aspects of different eras in global history, asserting that we have entered the fifth phase, that of Global Uncertainty.

u  Robertson's main works are Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture (1992) and the edited volume Global Modernities.

u   In 1985, he was the first sociologist to use the term globalization in the title of a sociological article.

u  His 1992 definition of globalization as "the compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole’’.

He is also said to have coined the term glocalization in 1992.

u  Robertsons approach “takes its departure from empirical generalizations concerning the rapidly increasing compression of the entire world into a single, global field  and [ from] conceptual ideas about the ways in which the whole should be ‘mapped’ in broadly sociological terms”.

u  Robertson shows that the discipline of Sociology has been a key element in the effort to come to grips with what he calls “globality” sociologists have crucially helped to shape global awareness.

Robertson’s analysis certainly expands awareness of globality’s complexity.

They are built around four focal points:

u  Individuals,

u  National societies,

u  Internaltional relations in the global framework

u  And concept of “humankind”.

All the four are set into inescapably intense global interaction.

Five phases of globalization:

1. The Germinal phase : (1400- 1750)
2. The incipient Phase: (1750-1875)
3. The take-off Phase: (1875-1925)
4. The struggle for Hegemony (1925-1969)
5. The uncertainty Phase (1969-1990 onwards)

The germinal phase: (1400- 1750):

o   Rise of Europe as a power with the support of religion.

o   Driven by curiosity and desire for wealth and power European traders and armies carved out world empires.

o   Superior technology gave them a navigational and military advantage.

o   Robertson opines that germinal phase pre-dates capitalism although the economic motive played a role in it.

The incipient Phase: (1750-1875):

o   It saw the establishment of the modern nation state and crucially their conflictual and competitive relations in the international field.

The take-off Phase: (1875-1925)

The third phase was crucial in defining the basic elements of globalization., because it established what Robertson sees as the four focal points of reference in the ‘global field’.

They are

u  Individuals,

u  National societies,

u  International relations in the global framework

And concept of “humankind”.

o   These reference points bear comparison with the level of action /identity.

o   The individual and nation – state.

o   He is less concerned with the state.

o   And that the value of individualism and nationalism have become increasingly adopted globally and that the universalization of these values is central to the process of globalization.

The struggle for Hegemony (1925-1969)

o   It saw the further trends towards internationalization, such as the founding of the league of Nations and UN but also ideological- military struggle for predominant influence over, if not control, of the world.

 

o   This phase developments beyond the merely international, narrowly defined and may be preliminary to Globalization.

o   Here international indicates relations between national states and is a global system of relations although falling short of the substantial ‘pooling’ of national powers and sovereignty that developed globalism would seem to require.

o   He regards bodies which go beyond practical cooperation between nations to seeking to promote and implement universal values as tending towards the global.

eg UN

The uncertainty Phase (1969-1990 onwards)

• The uncertainty Phase is characterized by a rising awareness of the global as a social entity and attempts to define rights and identities for instance individual and communal, with reference to universal humanity.
• Global dimension emerged both practically and people having developed a global consciousness.
• Now awareness of a common humanity with shared universal values is seen across the world.
• He argues that globalization has actually occurred in the last quarter of the 19th century.
• A global consciousness goes beyond internationalism.
• Globalization is characterized both by the specific developments- such as globalization of the media and aspects of consumption and an awareness of what is happening all around.
• Robertson argues that globalization began prior to modern capitalism.
• His approach to globalization is pluralistic.
• His emphasis on consciousness and values in the development of globalization is rather culturalist but he also stressed the role of nation state in exploring and ‘connecting up’ parts of the world and he acknowledge the importance of technology in making globalization possible.

• Malcolm Waters summaries four key substantial propositions about globalization :
• Globalization has already happened and is accelerating.
• New concepts are required to analyse globalization.
• The process is reflexive and cultural in character.
• Globalization follows the path of its inexorable logic.

 Reff:  Classical & Contemporary Sociology: Theory and Issues Mike O'Donnell

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Fundamentalism:

 

Fundamentalism

 

Fundamentalism it refers to a movement or a belief calling for a return to the basic text on fundamental revealed through religion. Which are believed to be pure and contain original values and behavior. Fundamentalism usually has a religious connotation that indicates unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs. However, fundamentalism has come to be applied to a tendency among certain groups.

The term was originally coined by the supporters Christianity, especially Protestant community who developed into a Christian fundamentalist movement in 1920’s in the United States of America, particularly against modernism and liberalism in religion. Leading to decay in Religious values.  It is a fact that Fundamentalism, without legitimacy and power is mear revivalism. Religious values are threatened by some common enemy which is modernity as seen by Fundamentalist more and more members are recruited into the Fundamentalist fold  with a view to go back to  a calmer, serine peaceful life with religion at the core. Trends within Christianity in the 1920 was obviously the start followed by others like Judaism, Islam and recently Hinduism, in other words, Fundamentalism refers to a global religious impulse, particularly evident in the twentieth century, that seeks to recover and publicly institutionalize aspects of the past that modern life has obscured.

According to Anthony Giddens, the forces of social change that is “High modernity and globalisation”

In Modernity and Self Identity,  a book published by Giddens  he argues that  the conditions of late modernity actually lay the foundations for a resurgence of religion.

Giddens argues that as tradition loses its grip on individuals, they become increasingly reflexive: they increasingly question what they should be doing with their lives, and are required to find their own way in life, rather than this being laid down by tradition.

The  institutions of modernity thus fail to provide sufficient structure to guide people through life, and people’s lives are lived in a moral vacuum with a sense of personal meaninglessness. People thus suffer from what Giddens calls ontological security – they don’t really know who they are, or what to do with their lives.

It is in such a situation that religion can perform a vital function – by providing a sense of moral purpose, as well as answers to the big existential questions of life.

In fundamentalism two processes happens one they are very selective and selecting interpretation of text. Secondly strives for a more calm and peaceful situation.

As Antony Giddens said that the modern people often face a identity crisis  and rootlessness among people in purchase situations people with that any support for Solace.

This happened because Secularism stopped talking about religion which creates the vacuum which leads people to look back at the fundamentals of religion or religious text. It can be said that the seeds of religious revivalism was sown by secularism.

Fundamental beliefs and practices promises to bring happiness to modern man, is  capable of motivating intense  commitment among its followers. So much to non believers is denied their right. Fundamentalism takes on a rather aggressive militant form. Hence, killing and terrorism are often justified.

The strength of religious fundamentalism is another indication that secularization has not triumphed in the modern world.

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