societies and institutions essays

societies and institutions essays The two countries that were chosen are Luxembourg and Kiribati. After looking at the facts about the two countries, I focused mainly on comparing the death rate and infant mortality rate. The population of Kiribati is almost four times smaller than that of Luxembourg and while their death rates are very close figures, the infant mortality rate in Kiribati is almost ten times greater than it is in Luxembourg. This is a very alarming rate. Therefore I asked the question, why so many more infants die in Kiribati? Kiribati has many social and economic problems. It is a very small atoll in the South Pacific Ocean that is plagued with natural hazards including typhoons and tornados. There is heavy pollution in lagoon of south Tarawa atoll (which is its capital) due to heavy migration mixed with traditional practices such as lagoon latrines and open-pit dumping. Only 2.74% of the land is arable and therefore the countries major food source is sea food which is contaminated. People who live on this atoll tend to eat fish or sea food for at least two meals a day so the chances of contamination are very high. Overcrowding, scarcity of clean water and poor sanitary conditions substantially hinder the control of communicable diseases in Kiribati. Communicable diseases are still the leading cause of morbidity, with extremely high numbers of acute respiratory diseases reported every month. Diarrhea diseases and skin diseases are also rampant. Tuberculosis poses a serious public health problem. Twenty nine HIV positive cases have been confirmed so far. Nevertheless, there is a clear trend of increased incidence of non-communicable diseases. Over 80 per cent of the adult population smokes tobacco, and alcohol consumption is also very high. Diabetes, cardiovascular conditions and cancers are becoming a serious and ever increasing public health problem. There is no health care system in Kiribati. There are only a few health centers that use out da...