The Gap in Healthcare
Abstract
In Hans Rosling’s Factfulness, he discusses “The Gap.” In his opinion, there is no true gap in society, but rather misconceptions. People tend to fail to recognize overlaps when comparing averages. When two averages are separated, they seem to have a big disparity, but in most cases when combined, there is little to no gap. Rosling also delves into the “extremes” of society, the rich and the poor. In most cases, the extremes of society only account for a small percentage of the population. The majority of the population is an average of both extremes, middle-class. Lastly, Rosling discusses unintentional ignorance as viewed by the upper class, Level 4. Hans Rosling’s theory of “The Gap” fits well into our society’s misconceptions of the healthcare field. Nearly all aspects of healthcare, ranging from life expectancy rates to vaccination rates, have been steadily increasing over time in all regions of the world. For example, a survey was conducted asking major financial investors “How many of the world’s 1- year-old children have been vaccinated against some disease?”. The answer choices were 20%,50%, and 80%. Results showed that an astonishing 85% of these investors guessed incorrectly. Today, 80% of 1- year-olds have been vaccinated against some disease. This paper shows some of the sources of bias regarding the level of information about healthcare in countries such as United States, Uganda, and Zimbabwe while comparing the actual levels in such countries to exemplify that the vast majority of the public has not been made aware of the advancements that the field of healthcare has experienced.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Maria Petrescu
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Shermany Library
Start Date
4-5-2019 1:00 PM
End Date
4-5-2019 5:00 PM
The Gap in Healthcare
Alvin Shermany Library
In Hans Rosling’s Factfulness, he discusses “The Gap.” In his opinion, there is no true gap in society, but rather misconceptions. People tend to fail to recognize overlaps when comparing averages. When two averages are separated, they seem to have a big disparity, but in most cases when combined, there is little to no gap. Rosling also delves into the “extremes” of society, the rich and the poor. In most cases, the extremes of society only account for a small percentage of the population. The majority of the population is an average of both extremes, middle-class. Lastly, Rosling discusses unintentional ignorance as viewed by the upper class, Level 4. Hans Rosling’s theory of “The Gap” fits well into our society’s misconceptions of the healthcare field. Nearly all aspects of healthcare, ranging from life expectancy rates to vaccination rates, have been steadily increasing over time in all regions of the world. For example, a survey was conducted asking major financial investors “How many of the world’s 1- year-old children have been vaccinated against some disease?”. The answer choices were 20%,50%, and 80%. Results showed that an astonishing 85% of these investors guessed incorrectly. Today, 80% of 1- year-olds have been vaccinated against some disease. This paper shows some of the sources of bias regarding the level of information about healthcare in countries such as United States, Uganda, and Zimbabwe while comparing the actual levels in such countries to exemplify that the vast majority of the public has not been made aware of the advancements that the field of healthcare has experienced.
