HLPE1540 REFLECTION JOURNAL 2

Claudia Svilans
The main activity that I learnt from in todays workshop was: the research on the
differences between two countries. We were given Cambodia and Canada to
research on. We had found major differences between the two because
Cambodia is classified as an undeveloped third world country, whereas Canada
would be a developed first world country (Germov, 2014, p. 65). This showed
how having basic health conditions in a persons country, can make a major
difference, for example, one of the articles we had found on Cambodia, by Hul
Reaksmey (2015), was that a lot of people in a village had caught a sexually
transmitted disease. The doctor was unlicensed, and was apparently using
reused needles on patients, which increased the chances of passing on the
disease (Reaksmey, 2015). Whereas Canada has free health-care, therefore,
have reduced their risks of catching diseases or being treated immediately.
Germov (2014) explains how a country can be developed or undeveloped
because of reasons such as: inequality or living standards for that country.
Omran (1971) adds to this statement by discussing the epidemiological
transition. The epidemiological transition refers to the degree of disease from,
for example, treating cancer compared to treating an infectious disease, which
are mostly treatable and preventable (Germov, 2014). If undeveloped countries
can be educated on health, and receive the help needed to know the correct
conditions to maintain it physically and mentally, then they are reducing the risk
of diseases and issues which can be preventable. The textbook and the activity
completed in the workshop interconnect because they both address why, and
how health can play a major part in the way a country can successfully work.
I found there was a link between workshop 4 and 5 because the game in todays
lesson was based on how other countries, and our society is ranked in the real
world. I had previously played the triangle, circle, and square game in high-
school which had similar rules, therefore, I would say I had a better
understanding of this game than other fellow students. The tactic I strategically
had followed with through-out this game was to end up with all blues or whites to
always end up with 16/17 points at the end of the round.
At the end of the game, we got asked the question of how this game relates to
real-life situations. I had raised the idea of how public and private schools follow
this type of ranking system. Society assume how, for example, if children attend
private schools, then they are seen as more successful and wealthy compared to
children who attend public schools (Cutler, 2015). However, this is just an
assumption made, and public schools shouldnt be downgraded just because of
their education taught or how much their yearly cost is to attend. This is
connected to the health textbook which explains how there is a three-class
model of Australian society: upper class, middle class, and working class
(Germov, 2014, p. 82), if private and public schools used these terms; private
would be classified as upper class, and public as middle or working class.
Germov (2014) also gives the example on the next page which says, For
example, whether a plumber is considered working class middle class will
depend on the particular class model used (p. 83). In both the textbook and the
activity, there was an example given to further explain how society overlooks
things, but also that status and wealth make a big part on what class people and
countries are placed in.
Although the last two workshops were connecting countries by status, this
weeks workshop related back to Health constantly, and more directly how it is
different in other countries by food. For me, the most important part of this
workshop session was viewing and discussing the images of families in different
countries with the weekly foods they would buy and eat (Menzel & D'Aluisio,
2007). Specifically, Ecuador, Egypt, and Mongolia made an interest to me
because one or more of these reasons: their weekly spending amount, the
amount of family members, how much food they had, or what food they bought.
For example, the family in Egypt has 12 family members, but only spends $68
weekly (Menzel & D'Aluisio, 2007, p. 5). Out of those 12 people, 7 of them are
adults, and adults would eat a larger portion of the food they have bought
because they are of bigger size compared to children. I find that from this
information, it is right to assume that this family could have money difficulties,
but they are spending their money on the correct foods from the healthy food
pyramid (they have more fruit/vegetables on the table than junk food, and have
good filling foods such as: meat, bread, or potatoes).
Although the statement before doesnt refer directly to the textbook, Germov
(2014) does explain a sort of reasoning for why the Egyptian or Australian family
pictured choose the food that they did, he says While we all have individual
food likes and dislikes, many of our food choices reflect our social appetite; that
is, the social, cultural, political, religious, and economic factors that affect what
we eat. For example, from Germovs (2014) quote, the United States family
pictured is much easier to describe their social appetite because in their typical
weekly food choices: there is a lot of junk food/fast food with minimal amounts of
healthier foods pictured. This is because socially it is much easier to purchase
fast food or junk food in the United States because of its availability; this can also
be an economic factor for many families because it is more convenient being
much cheaper. Having a social appetite can either promote or limit an approach
to food and nutrition; this can be for better or worse for some countries in our
society today.
Word count: 960

Bibliography
Cutler, D. (2015, January 21). The Private-School Stigma. Retrieved from The
Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/bridging-
private-and-public-schools/384673/
Germov, J. (2014). Second Opinion An introduction to Health Sociology. South
Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Menzel, P., & D'Aluisio, F. (2007, September 1). What the World Eats. Retrieved
from Hungry Planet: http://crownpublishing.com/archives/imprint/ten-
speed-press?
main_page=pubs_product_book_jph1_info&cPath=4_103&products_id=21
05
Reaksmey, H. (2015, December 4). Doctor Who Caused Mass HIV Outbreak in
Cambodia Sentenced to 25 Years. Retrieved from VOA News:
http://www.voanews.com/a/doctor-mass-hiv-outbreak-cambodia-
sentenced/3087288.html