Discuss the role of access to health care in development

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: In computing the Human Development Index (a measure of a country's level of development), the United Nations considers three components. These are wealth, education and good health. This is because it is believed that good health is a very important measure of a country's development. A goal of development, therefore, must include the provision of adequate nutrition and medical services needed for people to lead long and healthy lives.

In calculating the health component of the HDI, the UN uses life expectancy at birth. A baby born today in a developed region is on average expected to live ten years longer than one born in a developing region. It should be noted that there is a wide variation among developing regions. Life expectancy in East Asia and Latin America is comparable to developed regions . but in Sub-Sahara Africa, it is only in the low fifties.

People generally live longer and are healthier in developed countries than in developing ones because of better access to health care. For example, 17 percent of children in developing countries are not immunized against measles, compared to 7 percent in developed ones. More than a quarter of children lack measles immunization in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The gap between developed and developing countries is especially high in expenditures on health care. Developed countries spend more than $4,000 per person annually on health care, compared to approximately $200 per person in developing countries. Total expenditures on health care exceed 7 percent of GNI in developed countries, compared to 2 percent in developing ones. If developing countries are to make real progress tin development, then access to health needs to be