Wealth and Health in Africa How does economic growth affect the health and well-being of Africans? presented by AMREF’S Coffeehouse Speaker Series on global development featuring DR SHARI ELI from the University of Toronto and DR NICHOLAS LI from the University of Toronto
Exploring if and how economic growth that’s happening in some African countries affects people’s health and well-being. Is there a direct benefit? Or, is the relationship a little more complicated?
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Wealth and Health in AfricaHow does economic growth affect the health
and well-being of Africans?presented by
AMREF’S Coffeehouse Speaker Series on global development
featuring
DR SHARI ELI from the University of Toronto
andDR NICHOLAS LI from the University of
Toronto
Infant Mortality Rate by Wealth
NOTE: Country order reflects income level based on GDP per capita.
SOURCES: ICF Macro, Demographic and Health Surveys; and World Bank, World Development Indicators Database
Quotable"Understanding how poor households finance health care—andhow to help them do it better—is a crucial next step for financial access and development.”
-Berber KramerPhD candidate at Tinbergen Institute
Did you know?• China has been successful at improving women’s health outcomes as per capita income rises.• Sri Lanka has improved women’s health outcomes without per capita growth rates.• India demonstrates that per capita growth can occur without improving women’s health outcomes.
The common factor: government policy on health spending, according to Jayati Ghosh from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Studies show that national childhood mortality rates are highest among the poorest households.
There exists no strong evidence that private health insurance systems (e.g. USA) offer better or worse financial protection than public systems (e.g. Canada).
-Paraphrasing David EvansAuthor of Protecting Households From Catastrophic Health Spending
If there are no interventions to reduce the current rate of maternal deaths and disabilities in Africa, over the next ten years, it is estimated that $45 billion worth of productivity will be lost.
“International corporate tax avoidance is like a cancer eating away at both rich and poor countries … We know that business can be a force for good in Africa, but this is massively undermined when a company doesn’t pay its fair share of tax.”
Sub Saharan Africa accounts for 11% of the world’s population, yet bears 24% of the global disease burden and commands less than 1% of global health expenditure.
Source: World Health Organization
Did you know?
All of AMREF’s programs recognize the dynamic relationship between health and wealth: While poverty is a cause of poor health, poor health reduces the production ability which leads to poverty.
GDP per Capita and Total Fertility Rates
SOURCES: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision (2011); and World Bank, World Development Indicators Database.