Computer Model Reveals Escape Plan From Poverty's Vicious Circle

KentuckyFC writes "Infectious disease condemns poor countries to an endless cycle of ill health and poverty. Now a powerful new model of the link between disease and economic growth has revealed why some escape plans work while others just make matters worse. The problem is that when workers suffer from poor health, economic output goes down. And if economic output goes down, there is less to spend on healthcare. And if spending on healthcare drops, workers become less healthy. And so on. So an obvious solution is for a country to spend more on healthcare. But the new model says governments must take care since the cost to a poor country can send the economy spiraling into long term decline. By contrast, an injection of capital from outside the country allows spending on healthcare to increase without any drop in economic output. 'We find that a large influx of capital is successful in escaping the poverty trap, but increasing health spending alone is not,' say the authors. And the amount required is relatively little. The model suggests that long-term investment needs only to be more than 15 per cent of the cost of healthcare. But anything less than this cannot prevent the vicious circle of decline."

Comments

What is the first thing the World Bank and IMF do?

[plopez]

Demand cuts in social programs including health care. The World Bank and IMF are evil.

Re:Healthcare

[epyT-R]

I'm sure it is.. It's a well known fact that living 'correctly' results in longer lifespans but at sharply reduced enjoyment, so the only way to get there is to restrict liberties. No thanks. If you're interested in facts surrounding controversial topics, you'll probably have to go collect them yourself as media outlets like the guardian are notorious for not giving the full picture. All you're really doing is picking your favorite bandwagon to side with.

I don't buy into any of the given excuses for crazy wealth redistribution. In fact, I'd probably want to die sooner, having more than half my life's work siphoned off, while only eating what the state tells me to eat so that it can save money on my health to spend on other stupid shit. I do not want to be one of its cogs. Freedom is as important to health and wellbeing as diet and exercise.

I suppose it's not difficult to provide 'ok', cue-based care when the population's income is taxed over 50%, but I wouldn't call that a success story. Unfortunately, here in the states we tax almost as much (income+sales) and manage to have the money siphoned off into other bullshit, making it obvious that the last people we want spending our money are the current crop of politicians.