HEALTH INDICATORS
Health indicators are measures designed to summarize information about priority topics related to population health or health system performance. They provide comparable and actionable information across different geographic, organizational or administrative boundaries and/or can track progress over time (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2021)
Measuring key health indicators is important because it allows us to understand and address global health issues. "We need data, for example, to know from what health conditions people suffer. We also need to know the extent to which these conditions cause people to be sick, be disabled, or die. We need data to carry out disease surveillance" (Skolnik, 2021). A consistent set of health indicators is also beneficial because it allow us to compare health status amongst different countries.
FRANCE
Male life expectancy = 78 years
Female life expectancy = 85 years
Infant mortality = 3.4 per 1,000
Under-5 mortality = 3.9 per 1,000
Maternal mortality = 8 per 100,000
Obesity = 9.4%
Number of Births = 802,224
Population covered by public health insurance = 99.9%
(Nation Master, 2023)
UNITED STATES
Male life expectancy = 76 years
Female life expectancy = 81 years
Infant mortality = 6 per 1,000
Under-5 mortality = 7.8 per 1,000
Maternal mortality = 21 per 100,000
Obesity = 30.6%
Number of births = 4.13 million
Population covered by public health insurance = 31.8%
(Nation Master, 2023)
Leading Cause of Death
According to the chart above, non-communicable diseases such as ischemic heart disease has continued to be the leading cause of death in France from 2009 to 2019. Alzheimer's disease is the second leading cause of death followed by stroke which is the third leading cause of death in France.
Risk Factors
According to the chart above, tobacco use has continued to be the leading risk factor affecting health in France from 2009 to 2019. High blood pressure is the second leading risk factor affecting health followed by alcohol use which is the third leading risk factor.
Communicable Diseases
A disease that is transmitted from an animal to another animal, an animal to human, or a human to another human. Transmission can be direct such as through respiratory means, or through a vector, such as a mosquito in the case of Malaria (Skolnik, 2021).
Non-Communicable Diseases
Noncommunicable diseases cannot be spread from person to person by an infectious agent ... In addition, they tend to last a long time (Skolnik, 2021).
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HIV/AIDS
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Tuberculosis
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Malaria
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Coronavirus
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Hepatitis B
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Measles
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Diphteria
Negative effects
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easily spread
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symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, cough, and fatigue
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increase in health expenditure
Efforts to prevent
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enforcement of masks
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social distancing
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enforcement of hygiene and proper hand washing
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Vaccines
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free testing
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Heart disease
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Lung cancer
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Alzheimer's disease
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COPD
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Stroke
Negative effects
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premature death
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severe disability
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financial instability
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increased healthcare costs
Efforts to prevent
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health screenings
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family health history
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education about modifying lifestyle factors
COVID-19
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, France has confirmed roughly 38,453,595 cases. In relation to these confirmed cases France had a total of 160,844 deaths. France faced challenges during the beginning of the pandemic as they were slow to implement protective measures such as enforcing hand hygiene and mask etiquette. The French government also failed to openly report that there was a mask shortage, and decided to tell citizens that "masks were not useful for everyone (and could be even dangerous if not used properly) and must be reserved for health care workers and other professionals at high risk of contamination as well as for infected patients" (Or et al., 2021). As more people became infected the French government started to regularly enforce hand hygiene, social distancing, and self-isolation with the hopes of preventing COVID cases from growing.
References
Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2021). What is an indicator? Retrieved from https://www.cihi.ca/en/access-data-and-reports/health-system-performance-measurement/what-is-an-indicator
Nation Master. (2023). France vs United States Health Stats compared. Retrieved from https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/France/United-States/Health
Or, Z. et al. (2021). France's response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Between a rock and a hard place. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 17(1), 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1744133121000165
Skolnik, R. (2021). Global Health 101 (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
World Health Organization. (2023). Burden of noncommunicable diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Retrieved from https://www.emro.who.int/noncommunicable-diseases/publications/burden-of-noncommunicable-diseases-in-the-eastern-mediterranean-region.html