Health

Why are health issues such a huge problem for developing countries?

Firstly, in many countries, healthcare is unaffordable for the majority. Many governments provide free basic healthcare or preventative health, which covers some essential vaccination and health education programmes, but beyond this, healthcare is most often unaffordable and unattainable. Even where affordable health insurance is available, for those living on less than $2 a day this is still out of reach. Poor governments and their citizens are also more vulnerable to global pandemics such as the H1N1 virus ("swine 'flu") because they do not have the money to spend on vaccinations, anti-virals and/or hygiene campaigns.

Secondly, for those living in abject poverty, maintaining health is difficult, if not impossible:

• Lack of adequate sanitation and an accessible, safe water supply dramatically increases susceptibility to waterborne diseases such as dysentery and cholera.
  
  
• Malaria, too, is a big problem, especially in Africa where about 800,000 people died from malaria in 2006, 85% of which were under the age of 5.
  
  
• A nutritious diet is difficult to sustain for those living in poverty and even preparing food can be hazardous: using indoor cooking stoves can result in respiratory diseases which lead to approximately 1.5 million deaths a year.
  
  
• And, of course, HIV/AIDS is of increasing severity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 5% of the African population are living with HIV, but this varies from country to country with, for example, a HIV prevalence of 26% in Swaziland.
  

Finally, the long hours, poor working conditions and the physically demanding nature of work that many of the poorest people have to endure have an immeasurable impact on health. For those living on subsistence wages, time off for illness is not an option: there are no sick days available on a farm and no work most likely means no food or water. Also, many of the workplace health and safety practices in operation in developed countries do not happen in many developing countries, meaning, for example, workers can be exposed to unsafe levels of chemicals in factories.

How does this affect development?

Poor levels of health affect productivity which ultimately affects a country's prospects for development. For example, if workers are sick, worried about their children's health or are living on one meal a day, they cannot work as hard or as efficiently as healthy, happy workers can. This means factories and businesses cannot compete with companies in countries with high levels of health care.

For farmers, if they have to make an hour-long trip to find safe drinking water, if they are exhausted from malaria or if their children are suffering from dysentery, they will not be able to put in enough energy and time into farming as they need. Without adequate time and money put in to farming, it is less likely that there will be a surplus to sell, meaning that many farmers are stuck at a subsistence level.

Simple affordable solutions can save lives.

Although poverty is the biggest problem that needs to be addressed to make a real improvement in the health of those living in developing countries, there are small changes that can make a real difference. Something as simple as providing and using mosquito nets can cut levels of malaria transmission and dehydration salts can help prevent diarrhoea from being fatal. But, as with everything, even small solutions cost money – something developing countries and their people struggle to generate.