DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

What are the main challenges in developing countries in terms of health and education?

What are the main challenges in developing countries in terms of health and education?

Introduction

Developing countries are nations with reduced levels of materialistic wellbeing, struggling to industrialise themselves in order to increase productivity. They face many problems like low literacy rates, high infant mortality rates, low life expectancies, inadequate medical facilities leading to poor sanitation, low standards of living, insufficient shelter, low levels of labour productivity leading to high levels of unemployment and low literacy rates leading to technological backwardness, less agriculture productivity leading to famines, lack of infrastructure and many other. (World Bank 2002)

Low production leads to low incomes and low investments resulting in lower growth because of which countries take loans from IMF and the World Bank because of which interest rates and taxations increase, eventually lowering the standards of living of that nation.

Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Somalia, Brazil and Vietnam are a few examples of developing nations classified by the World Bank mainly on the basis of their Gross National Income. Low incomes ($995 or less than $995) and lower middle incomes ($996 to $3,945). (World Bank 2002)

Discussion

The two main issues that have become topics of immense international concern are health and educational problems faced by these nations. As we know, developing nations lack funds to provide public and merit goods such as free/affordable health care and education for all. It is up to the employees of that country to work for longer hours and be exploited by the hands of multinationals to be able to provide at least only the basic food and shelter needs of their families. As there are already less job opportunities in such countries, only the highest qualified people acquire jobs. Because standards of living are so low, common man is often unable to acquire even the basic forms of education. (World Bank 2002)

Health issues in developing countries

Over the last decade, public health has been a core concern especially in the developing world as it has reached a crisis level. Over 12.6 million people in developing nations lose their lives to infectious diseases each year; around 4 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS, (90% of which are in the developing world). The disease kills over three million people annually; five hundred million people are infected with malaria which kills two million annually; eight million people develop tuberculosis and two million people die because of it each year (99% of deaths resulting from Tuberculosis are found in the developing world). Only five percent of the children born in developing countries are able to survive because of water borne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera (www.academicjournals.org).

Thousand others die annually due to less common diseases, which predominantly affect the progress of developing countries because the working force is most affected by such deaths and so many families are left supportless. Developing nations are usually labour intensive and the deaths of employees' causes a big ...