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Contributions from
the Column
Monitor
Hong Kong: near failure
Strengthened individual, weakened state
Budget crisis averted
Fewer landmine victims
Health services:
passing by the poor
NGOs claim Iraq
is selling oil reserves
More people infected with HIV
French NGOs take stock
of government action
Millennium Goal still a long way off
01/2006
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Health services:
passing by the poo
Programmes to improve health care systems in developing countries frequently do not do much for the poor they are meant to help, according to a recent World Bank study titled “Reaching the poor with health services”. The study maintains that in 21 developing countries investigated, more than 25% of the government spending on health care on average went to the wealthiest fifth of the population; the poorest fifth, on the other hand, received only 15%. Only in four countries did the poor receive a greater share of the health spending than those better off. In 15 countries, their share was smaller. According to the World Bank, the record is not better for privately financed programmes.
At a conference held by the German Development Ministry (BMZ), German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in early December in Berlin, it was said that 150 million people worldwide are forced to spend more than half of their income on health care. In Germany, private households have to contribute ten percent of all spending for health services, while in Congo-Kinshasa this figure is 70%. The World Bank cites several examples of successful health programmes aimed at the poor, for example the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets in Ghana and Zambia, and the Mexican Progresa Programme, which pays for clinic and school visits for poor families and exempts them from charges. (ell)
On the internet:
World Bank study:
http://www.worldbank.org/hnp
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