As of 2017, less than half of the world’s population have access to necessary health care. Every year, between 5.7 and 8.4 million people die due to the lack and poor quality of health care in low and middle-income countries.
In HICs (High Income Countries) such as France and England, we are lucky to have access to free health care, all year round, for everything, a programme which is funded by the government. We also have doctors and hospitals everywhere, which are easily accessible.
In France, the government will pay for 70% of most health care costs and 100% for expensive bills and long-term payments and illnesses. Paying for health care and medication pushes 100 million people into extreme poverty each year.
Unfortunately, not all rich and developed countries have affordable and accessible health care systems. There is no universal health care there, unlike the NHS in the UK and France. This means that the government doesn’t provide health care benefits to citizens or visitors, so people must pay. Now you have to pay for everything, it could cost $30 000 to just stay in a hospital room for 3 days! The alternative to not paying all of those costs, is to have health insurance, but for this you have to make regular payments to a health insurance company. So, for minorities or people who don’t have enough money, they can afford health insurance or to pay the medical bills! I find it crazy that such a rich country, with, as of 2018, 42% of all workers on minimum wage or less, doesn’t help finance its citizen’s health care. The US has enough money, but it isn’t always directed in the right places. They could easily help fund the country’s health care systems and provide help to the population in need.
Sierra Leone has one of the worst healthcare system, with a score of 0 on the World Health Organisation health systems performance index. Unfortunately, they lost most of their health care due to a civil war, but their plans aren’t very good, such as pregnant women are allowed free health care, but in reality they can’t receive any health care due to the country being unable to provide.
International organisations, such as the United Nations, World Health Organisation and World Bank are urging countries to adopt Universal Health Coverage by 2030, provide easily accessible and affordable health care to all. This plan makes sure that all health care is covered by governments, which helps support the poor.
Covid-19 shows how important health care systems and hospitals are. Even in rich and developed countries, like the UK and France, we don’t have enough beds to support normal patients and ones with Covid-19 additionally. The lack of hospitals and doctor’s offices in developing and poorer countries makes it much harder for the population to fight this pandemic and to be able to deliver vaccinations safely and easily.
This map shows the number of hospital beds per 1000 people
How can health care systems be improved in developing countries?
Philips (service provider) has pioneered Community Life Centres, bringing together national and local governments, impacted communities and services providers, to make and improve clinics. They are offering digital technology, building services, educating and training staff, all in one place. They are also providing these buildings with cleaner energy, such as solar panels and LED lighting and providing clean water, which leads the country’s development beyond just health care systems. As of January 2020, there are 10 Community Life Centres, in Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Ethiopia, with more digital health solutions across Asia, treating nearly 500 000 patients every year. CLC help connect rural villages to some sort of health care and provide them with a sustainable source of energy.
They have also provided technology to Rwanda, called Philips Lumify, which connects primary carers in Rwanda with clinicians in the EU and USA.
With more systems like the Community Life Centres, by 2030, hopefully many more countries and communities with have access to affordable health support and that the US looks at helping the people in need in its own country.