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Health of developing nations

  • 14/09/2001

Health of developing nations Developing nations prioritise expenditure and social costs, like that for pubic health, are the first to be axed. The Human Development Report 2001 indexes the overall development by including the expenditure made on health related activities. Developing countries, specially India, come out culprits for ignoring the health of its citizens. On the other hand, the exhorbitant costs of medication, as in the case of AIDS treatment make life harder for people suffering in these countries. While governments need to commit more to health needs, an adequate regime for cheap drugs is also the need of the hour.

Cost of cure
High costs of medication and cures prevent a healthy global
population. The case of AIDS treatment is symptomatic
  Switzerland Kenya Zambia Uganda
Population 7 million 30 million 10 million 23 million
People with HIV 17,000 2,100,000 870,000 820,000
Cost of treating
all infected
people with
antiretroviral
drugs at global
market prices,
at about $12,000
a person a
year (in US $)
204 million 25 billion 10 billion 10 billion
Cost of
treatment
as per cent of
GDP
0.08 238 154 336

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