Reasons of Vulnerability of the Population

It is not hard to turn on the evening news and see a natural disaster that has occurred in the United States or elsewhere. From hurricanes and wildfires to floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis, the public often sees the people that are displaced from their homes. But rarely does the public think about what happens after the natural disaster when the cameras stop rolling, and the media attention fades away. The people left behind are called natural disaster victims and they become a vulnerable population group. A vulnerable population group is a subgroup of the population that is more likely to develop health problems as a result of exposure to risk and to have worse outcomes from these health problems than the rest of the population (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2016).

If society does not pay attention to this vulnerable group, then they can fall under the radar and go without the necessities in life. It is important to describe and examine why natural disasters victims are vulnerable, identify existing or potential disparities in health care for natural disaster victims, and analyze public policies/care trends that have impacted this group as to see if progress is being made.

Victims of the natural disasters and traumatic disasters are considered vulnerable because they have just witnessed a severe trauma in their life and are mentally not ready to accept this new change in life. They were previously living normal and peaceful lives but suddenly the trauma hit them hard and damages them emotionally and mentally (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2016). They develop certain symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) from those incidents which includes fear, anxiety and panic attacks, abnormal eating, emotional numbness and excessive avoidance of people and places (Herman, 2015). They may have lost someone beloved to them as well in severe natural disasters and are unable to cope up with the depression. Due to these reasons, their brains stop working properly and they may not handle a situation like a normal human being if left untreated.

Potential Disparities in Health Care

The greatest disparities faced by natural disaster victims in healthcare is the absence of essential and important health facilities in rural areas or the areas where it is difficult to provide frequently hit rough or remote areas and the targeted population is unable to seek shelter (Boscarino, Hoffman, Adams & Solhkhah,2014). The financial damage is unbearable for them as most of the people living there hardly affords their necessities. So, they need financial help also along with medical clinics for a cognitive therapy. Absence of psychanalysis and therapies makes the vulnerable population tougher to survive. The recurrence of those tragic event can be insupportable in the point for them to make ultimate decision to take their lives. It is important that health services should be provided in the non-judgmental manner.

Any other traumatic event victims also need a psychologist for emotional stress relieving but unfortunately even in developed countries, the vulnerable populations are deprived of this health facility. There is very limited research on this topic and some serious concerns should be made to remove the potential disparities in healthcare for this vulnerable population. Government should take some actions for this vulnerable population so that there should not be further diseases faced by the locals there.

Public Policies or Care Trends Impacting the Vulnerable Groups

Health care is the most important component of people’s lives and should be given full attention from the government side. The main problem faced by the developed countries in health sector related to different levels of vulnerabilities is the lack of health insurance. Most of the health provided is uninsured due to which many people are unable to have proper access to the medical care. More than 41 million people in which majority are part of working families are uninsured when it comes to the provision of healthcare in their areas. Governments need to build strong health care delivery system for those people and more focus should be given to vulnerable groups (Magruder, Adams, Thoresen & Olff, 2016).

Recently many government departments have started taking actions to resolve the health disparities of those vulnerable populations in the healthcare by providing medical assistance. They have also started providing a 24 hours’ helpline to the people who are very vulnerable to these incidents. In America, there is provision of excessive assistance for the Post Traumatic Stress disorder patients with strict prescriptions from their doctors (Magruder et al. 2016). Many communities have also started awareness campaigning for the vulnerable groups and funded the support groups for them from their own finance. Many studies have suggested that community participation have positive relation with the successful treatment of many mental diseases (Hikichi, Aida, Tsuboya, Kondo, & Kawachi., 2016).