Hi, welcome back to another episode of All About who My name is Ainsley Fischman I'm Sterling Ross
and I'm gonna cold call you're in today's episode we will be discussing, developing or underdeveloped countries and their true health care needs.
were directed towards this topic because developing countries struggle to provide basic needs to their desperate citizens such as water, sanitation, shelter, education, food, and especially health services and evaluation of the success of developing countries in meeting the basic needs of their populations by the World Bank has found a wide disparity among them.
What do you think is the leading cause of death for six citizens seeking treatment in developing countries?
My guess is that it may be due to the lack of access to health care. Most developing countries do not have the means to provide affordable health care for their citizens because they're focused on growing the economy. Before expanding the medical field.
close but not quite. According to a recent report by the lancet Global Health Commission on high quality health systems. 5.7 million people die every year in low and middle income countries due to poor quality health care, far more than the 2.9 million people who died due to lack of access.
Wait. So what you're saying is in developing countries, poor quality of health care has a greater chance of leading to death than the complete lack of health care.
Yes, it's a sad reality that the world must face. Then how do you define quality health care? A measure of the quality of care is how well health services improve the likelihood of desired health outcomes and correspond to professional knowledge based on evidence. Quality of Care definition, includes promotion, prevention, treatment, rehab, rehabilitation and palliation and implies that quality of care can be measured and continuously improved through the provision of evidence based care based on patient, family and community needs.
So how are international organizations helping developing countries fight this struggle with health care?
A high level declaration was adopted at the UN generally and General Assembly in September by heads of state of government calling for universal health care coverage by 2030. It is a welcome development for global health.
This declaration was possible due to substantive programs reflecting the World Health Organization's priorities. In response to the question, what does the who want to achieve? These goals and objectives are set out in the general program of work executive board and Health Assembly resolutions and other global commitments such as the Millennium Development Goals?
Another strategy the W H O utilizes is a functional perspective to answer the question, how can it achieve its goals and objectives? It focuses on the international or inter governmental organization should balance its core functions, such as normative work and technical cooperation. So as to meet its strategic objectives and deliver the best global results especially to developing countries.
It is difficult for these developing countries to reach a point of decent health care due to the lack of medicines, water and electricity shortages of doctors and prohibitive health. care costs, preventing these countries from receiving quality medical aid and support. The WHO estimates that the healthcare systems and 22 countries require a complete overhaul.
What are some countries included in that list?
The top five countries that are in desperate need of health care reform are Liberia Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Myanmar. That's right.
I heard Liberia is number one on the WH OHS list due to the country's suffering from epidemic disease, social violence and healthcare expulsion.
Nigeria is also suffering from an epidemic crisis but HIV AIDS and typhoid are major problems in the country. Since government healthcare initiatives have not been funded to combat these diseases, distrust in the government has grown
do the other three countries suffer from the same things?
Not quite. The Democratic Republic of Congo is ravaged by an ongoing civil war that has severely undermined its health infrastructure, as well as its road networks and essential services such as electricity, meaning patients are forced to travel long distances to health centers that may not be equipped to handle their complications. In the Central
African Republic. Healthcare is mainly provided by NGOs rather than by the government. So an NGO workers feel unsafe, the healthcare system suffers. And on the other hand, Myanmar has a wealthy economy but is afflicted with high levels of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, HIV and tuberculosis, tuberculosis affect 10% of the population at the same time, a strong healthcare system and improved access to health care will cause more government funding and outside support from other nations.
Due to the suffering experienced by these countries and others, it has become imperative that a new resource distribution system be established within the WHO to ensure that underdeveloped countries receive the aid needed to increase their health and life expectancy. If public health interventions are scaled up across low and middle income countries. 60 million lives could be saved and the life expectancy could increase by 3.7. years in 2030.
Not only that the impoverished member states are highly reliant on the WHO for health care, information and resources compared to those states with high GDPs and the ability to contribute more. In fact, more than 800 million people spend at least 10% 10% of their household income on health care, and out of pocket expensive drop expenses drive almost 100 million people into poverty each year.
The consequences of an oblique resource distribution system are quite unfortunate to ensure their strategic objectives of the who can be adequately resourced. The key to efficient and effective uses of resources will be to find the right balance. resources allocated to one program should not be taken as a compensation for incidents, insufficient resources allocated to other programs.
What do you mean by an oblique resource distribution system?
From an organizational perspective we examine who is countries regions and headquarters the sheer lack of transparent transparency and resource distribution withholds any momentum for change. Resource Allocation should be based on the work being conducted.
So essentially, the key to efficiently and effectively serving the sick or injured in developing countries begins with reevaluating the resource distribution structure to implement policies for supplemental medical aid that increases the prospects of achieving basic health. Coverage.
It would definitely help healthcare is not meant to be meant to follow the you get out of it, what you put into it structure. The International Organization explicitly states that part of its purpose is to serve the vulnerable meaning those states that can not afford health care.
Do you think there would be an issue with free riding or the excessive consumption of a good without contributing to its production or maintenance from citizens in developing countries if healthcare became became a basic public good, especially considering the current resource distribution structure of the who
states that cannot contribute extensively to the who are suffering, the consequences of their own development and medicine will likely never be a public good, however, a new resourcing structure in which states contribute according to their current health care status, with well off states contributing the most to provide for those contributing the least would promote state cooperation to achieve universal health coverage.
The only issue is that because of anarchy and audience costs, states exist first to serve their citizens than to serve others. State cooperation will be beneficial for those unable to afford health care coverage. The vast majority of families facing impoverishing out of pocket health costs are already below the poverty line, highlighting the need to exempt the poor from out of pocket health spending through health financing policies that will enable good intentions to be realized. No state population can be disappointed in a leader trying to achieve international betterment. And it may even harvest symbiotic foreign relations that benefit the electorate.
Can you elaborate on anarchy in audience costs?
Absolutely. Anarchy is the lack of a government to control the international system, granting each state sovereignty or the right to govern their territory and population without intervention. from other states. Audience costs are the informal consequences of failing to serve the domestic population credibly and honorably.
So basically, anarchy and audience costs entail the state putting its citizens before serving the international community. And this causes poor state cooperation that only hinders health care coverage internationally.
Exactly. But it is worse than it sounds. Not only does enough, inadequate health care result in deaths in these countries, but imposes costs of 1.4 to 1.6 trillion each year in lost productivity. This is a cost these countries cannot afford, which is why it is so important for the change to happen now.
Yes, change needs to start and it can happen with people like us by writing advocacy letters to government officials and the who is bureaucrats or starting a grassroots grassroots movement. We can see this resolution come to life, bringing your health care coverage to those who need it the most.
We will be back next week for another episode of All About who Thank you for listening in. Please consider writing a letter or speak with your friends about this issue. It may not affect you directly, but it affects the global population, which must be protected
