Critical care as we know it in developed countries may not be available in developing nations however, we would certainly recognize many patients dying of AIDS, malaria, diarrheal illness, and malnutrition in hospital wards as critically ill. AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 72% of global AIDS deaths, and average life expectancy in this geographic area is 47 years-three decades shorter than in North America or Europe ( 4). electoral cycle and is receiving increasing attention in the medical literature.Īlthough access to available care in North America is imperfect, basic health care services in much of the developing world are seriously lacking. Universal access to health care in the United States has been a prominent feature of the current U.S. Nearly 90 million Americans lacked health insurance for at least 1 month during 2006–2007 ( 3). ![]() In addition, access to health care in the United States is woefully incomplete-45 million citizens, and millions more immigrants, lack health insurance ( 2). Despite this vast investment in medical care, the United States ranks poorly among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries on many standard measures of health ( 2). ![]() expenditures on health care were $2.1 trillion in 2006 and accounted for 16% of the gross domestic product, of which 10% is estimated to be spent on critically ill patients ( 1). Critical care comprises only one part of the continuum of medical care, which itself is only one determinant of population health.
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