DOES GOOD HEALTH CARE HELP THE SITUATION?
THE STRUGGLES OF A DEVELOPING ECONOMY
I come from a developing country in Africa, every day I see people die. They die of disease that could have been prevented or cured. I always think that if the right facilities an orientation had been available a lot of those death's could have been avoided .In an interview with a resident doctor of a public hospital she said the large amount of deaths was due to the low doctor patient ratio and insufficient healthcare centers to meet the high demand for healthcare. A I research on the differences between developed and developing countries showed that fifty percent of the difference was due to bad health and lower life expectancy. This led me to believe that healthcare is very important to the development of an economy.
Health care can be said to be the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, illness and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Economic growth refers to the steady process by which the productive capacity of the economy is increased over time to bring about rising levels of national output and income. It is measured by the increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in real terms. The linkages of health to poverty reduction and long term economic growth are powerful more powerful than is generally understood. Health is a priority in its own right as well as a central input into economic development. For individuals and families, health brings the capacity for personal development and economic security in the future. Health is the basis for job productivity, the capacity to learn in school, and the capability to grow intellectually, physically, and emotionally. In economic terms, health and education are the two cornerstones of human capital but what use is education to an unhealthy person. This formed my theory that without health there can be no substantial economic growth.
Looking at health on an individual or household level the advantages of good health cannot be undermined. How healthy you are goes a long way to influence how you grow the amount of education you can receive ,the amount of salary you can earn and how much you can save. When you're healthy you can work longer, earn more and in the long run save more .on the other hand ill health prevents you from doing these things. Viewing health on an individual basis helps us to imagine how far we can develop if there was more healthy people who can work longer earn more, consume more and save more in other words give directly back to the economy.
Turning to the effect of health at the macroeconomic, i.e. country, level, historical studies exploring the role of health in a specific country over one or two centuries have shown that a large share of today's economic wealth is directly attributable to past achievements in health. Health - typically measured as life expectancy or adult mortality - enters as a very robust and sizeable predictor of subsequent economic growth in virtually all studies that have examined growth differences between poor and rich countries. Human capital theory predicts that more educated individuals are more productive (and obtain higher earnings). Good health in childhood enhances cognitive functions and reduces school absenteeism and early drop-out rates. Hence, children with better health can be expected to attain higher educational levels and therefore be more productive in the future. Moreover, healthier individuals with a longer lifespan in front of them would have more incentives to invest in education and training, as they can harvest the associated benefits for a longer period. It is again highly plausible to imagine that savings increase with the prospect of a longer and healthier life. The idea of planning and, hence, saving for retirement would be expected to occur only when mortality rates become low enough for retirement to be a realistic prospect.
The impact of health on labor supply is theoretically ambiguous. Good health reduces the number of days an individual spends sick, which consequently results in an increase in the number of healthy days available for either work or leisure. But health also influences the decision to supply labor through its impact on wages, preferences and expected life horizon. The effect of health on labor supply through each of these intermediate factors is not always obvious. On the one hand, if wages are linked to productivity, and healthier workers are more productive, health improvements are expected to increase wages and thus the incentives to increase labor supply (substitution effect). On the other hand, being healthy might allow higher lifetime earnings and therefore an earlier withdrawal from the labor force (income effect). The way in which health affects individual preferences also affects whether and how health determines economic outcomes. One could imagine that, as health improves, working becomes less cumbersome, and therefore the individual might be ready to take up more work in exchange of leisure time. However, one could also imagine that a health improvement reduces the needs for consumption (e.g. of health treatments or medicines) and therefore reduces the relative preference for work, leading to a reduction of working time and an increase in leisure time.
Finally, if good health changes neither preferences nor wages, but raises life expectancy, the individual's needs for lifetime consumption would increase, leading to a higher labor supply
Furthermore, the state of health of an individual or a population is likely to impact not only upon the level of income but also the distribution of this income between savings and consumption and the willingness to undertake investment. Individuals in good health are likely to have a wider time horizon and their savings ratio may consequently be higher than the savings ratio of individuals in poor health. Other things being equal, a population whose life expectancy increases may therefore also be expected to have higher savings. This should also result in a higher propensity to invest in physical or intellectual capital. In summary, there are a number of channels that may casually link health and economic outcomes on the individual and macroeconomic level. The most common denominator of all of these channels is that health can be seen as an integral part of human capital.
Though there is a direct effect of health on the economy, there is also an impact of the health system on an economy working healthcare system matters in an economy mostly because of its size as one of the largest service industries it represents one of the most important sectors in an economy. A research conducted in Europe showed that about 7 % of GDP in the EU-15, larger than the roughly 5 % accounted for by the financial services sector or the retail trade sector was from the health and social service. This is almost the same in other developed economies like the US but is the exact opposite in developing economies. In developing economies the number of patients to on doctor is extremely high as some countries in sub Saharan Africa have a ratio of about thirty thousand patients to one doctor. Though there is a shortage of health workers in Africa there are also insufficient health facilities for the available workers especially in the rural areas. If the government of developing countries can develop the health care sector of their economy then the substantial economic growth and development is not far.
To put it all simply the economic growth of an economy is directly connected to the quality of healthcare it provides. The personal wellbeing of citizens will only improve when political decisions focus on health care as a whole and necessary investment made towards it. Addressing the issue of healthcare in developing economies will go a long way to ease the struggle for development.
PLEASE ANY CRITICISM IS ACCEPTED
THE STRUGGLES OF A DEVELOPING ECONOMY
I come from a developing country in Africa, every day I see people die. They die of disease that could have been prevented or cured. I always think that if the right facilities an orientation had been available a lot of those death's could have been avoided .In an interview with a resident doctor of a public hospital she said the large amount of deaths was due to the low doctor patient ratio and insufficient healthcare centers to meet the high demand for healthcare. A I research on the differences between developed and developing countries showed that fifty percent of the difference was due to bad health and lower life expectancy. This led me to believe that healthcare is very important to the development of an economy.
Health care can be said to be the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, illness and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Economic growth refers to the steady process by which the productive capacity of the economy is increased over time to bring about rising levels of national output and income. It is measured by the increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in real terms. The linkages of health to poverty reduction and long term economic growth are powerful more powerful than is generally understood. Health is a priority in its own right as well as a central input into economic development. For individuals and families, health brings the capacity for personal development and economic security in the future. Health is the basis for job productivity, the capacity to learn in school, and the capability to grow intellectually, physically, and emotionally. In economic terms, health and education are the two cornerstones of human capital but what use is education to an unhealthy person. This formed my theory that without health there can be no substantial economic growth.
Looking at health on an individual or household level the advantages of good health cannot be undermined. How healthy you are goes a long way to influence how you grow the amount of education you can receive ,the amount of salary you can earn and how much you can save. When you're healthy you can work longer, earn more and in the long run save more .on the other hand ill health prevents you from doing these things. Viewing health on an individual basis helps us to imagine how far we can develop if there was more healthy people who can work longer earn more, consume more and save more in other words give directly back to the economy.
Turning to the effect of health at the macroeconomic, i.e. country, level, historical studies exploring the role of health in a specific country over one or two centuries have shown that a large share of today's economic wealth is directly attributable to past achievements in health. Health - typically measured as life expectancy or adult mortality - enters as a very robust and sizeable predictor of subsequent economic growth in virtually all studies that have examined growth differences between poor and rich countries. Human capital theory predicts that more educated individuals are more productive (and obtain higher earnings). Good health in childhood enhances cognitive functions and reduces school absenteeism and early drop-out rates. Hence, children with better health can be expected to attain higher educational levels and therefore be more productive in the future. Moreover, healthier individuals with a longer lifespan in front of them would have more incentives to invest in education and training, as they can harvest the associated benefits for a longer period. It is again highly plausible to imagine that savings increase with the prospect of a longer and healthier life. The idea of planning and, hence, saving for retirement would be expected to occur only when mortality rates become low enough for retirement to be a realistic prospect.
The impact of health on labor supply is theoretically ambiguous. Good health reduces the number of days an individual spends sick, which consequently results in an increase in the number of healthy days available for either work or leisure. But health also influences the decision to supply labor through its impact on wages, preferences and expected life horizon. The effect of health on labor supply through each of these intermediate factors is not always obvious. On the one hand, if wages are linked to productivity, and healthier workers are more productive, health improvements are expected to increase wages and thus the incentives to increase labor supply (substitution effect). On the other hand, being healthy might allow higher lifetime earnings and therefore an earlier withdrawal from the labor force (income effect). The way in which health affects individual preferences also affects whether and how health determines economic outcomes. One could imagine that, as health improves, working becomes less cumbersome, and therefore the individual might be ready to take up more work in exchange of leisure time. However, one could also imagine that a health improvement reduces the needs for consumption (e.g. of health treatments or medicines) and therefore reduces the relative preference for work, leading to a reduction of working time and an increase in leisure time.
Finally, if good health changes neither preferences nor wages, but raises life expectancy, the individual's needs for lifetime consumption would increase, leading to a higher labor supply
Furthermore, the state of health of an individual or a population is likely to impact not only upon the level of income but also the distribution of this income between savings and consumption and the willingness to undertake investment. Individuals in good health are likely to have a wider time horizon and their savings ratio may consequently be higher than the savings ratio of individuals in poor health. Other things being equal, a population whose life expectancy increases may therefore also be expected to have higher savings. This should also result in a higher propensity to invest in physical or intellectual capital. In summary, there are a number of channels that may casually link health and economic outcomes on the individual and macroeconomic level. The most common denominator of all of these channels is that health can be seen as an integral part of human capital.
Though there is a direct effect of health on the economy, there is also an impact of the health system on an economy working healthcare system matters in an economy mostly because of its size as one of the largest service industries it represents one of the most important sectors in an economy. A research conducted in Europe showed that about 7 % of GDP in the EU-15, larger than the roughly 5 % accounted for by the financial services sector or the retail trade sector was from the health and social service. This is almost the same in other developed economies like the US but is the exact opposite in developing economies. In developing economies the number of patients to on doctor is extremely high as some countries in sub Saharan Africa have a ratio of about thirty thousand patients to one doctor. Though there is a shortage of health workers in Africa there are also insufficient health facilities for the available workers especially in the rural areas. If the government of developing countries can develop the health care sector of their economy then the substantial economic growth and development is not far.
To put it all simply the economic growth of an economy is directly connected to the quality of healthcare it provides. The personal wellbeing of citizens will only improve when political decisions focus on health care as a whole and necessary investment made towards it. Addressing the issue of healthcare in developing economies will go a long way to ease the struggle for development.
PLEASE ANY CRITICISM IS ACCEPTED
