Investing in Health Means Fighting Poverty

 The most fundamental responsibility that every human being has to the self, is that of investing in his or her own health and wellbeing. In nature, healthy organisms must compete for food and space in order to survive, propagate and evolve within the ecosystem of their existence. For human beings, complex social settings require the use of technological resources to enhance their status of interaction with the ecosystem, thus gaining a competitive edge in nature. This phenomenon is unique to humans and may be referred to as development.

A healthy people with access to resources are the basic foundation of a great nation and are the greatest asset to the economy. In a letter to the African Union (AU) heads of governments, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu (2007, World AIDS Day) urged the African nations to wake up to the fact that their nations are dying in whole from infectious diseases. Current data from WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, and others reflect that 8 million Africans die annually from preventable diseases. Infectious diseases are therefore the single most imminent threat to human survival in Africa compared to war or famine. In his plea, Archbishop Tutu reminded the heads of States of their 2001 pledge to allocate 15% of their GDPs to healthcare.

But, what exactly does 15% allocation to healthcare mean? What is the effectiveness of having more hospitals, clinics and drugs in reversing the state of ill health that is gripping the continent?

The inverse relationship between community’s socio-economic status and the burden of disease is obvious and requires no elaborate studies. Low social economic status is directly correlated with increased burden of disease in a community. Many countries, including current economic giants such as Japan, went through a major epoch of unhealthy populations with debilitating poverty and accompanying diseases after the Second World War. Indeed, in 1950 tuberculosis was extremely prevalent in Japan and was considered the "national disease."  While concerted efforts were made in the provision of health care, it was the rapid economic and social development that eradicated the disease and with it, other diseases such as intestinal worms and malaria. Indeed, data from parts of central Kenya show that diseases like bilharzia that were once common, have slowly disappeared with improved sanitation and the provision of clean water.

In this light, we must view investment in health as all efforts that go towards improving the socio-economic status of the individual. Currently, millions of Africans live in malaria-endemic regions, but are not threatened by the disease because they have access to resources that free them from being at the mercy of killer parasites.

Poverty deprives one of options and choices in life. Poverty robs humans of dignity and self worth, a state where individuals relinquish personal responsibilities including such matters as health. In this view, poverty is the single underlying factor responsible for the deaths associated with infectious diseases. Fighting poverty is investing in health. The stance to improve human health through economic improvement is one that bankers, industrialists, economists, policy makers, artists and all people who view their role as agents of development must undertake. Doctors’ visits, hospitals and medicines are the options; the choices individuals have available when faced with diseases, as taking care of our health is a matter of personal responsibility. This comes naturally as one climbs the socio-economic ladder. Development is the process of adding the rungs to that ladder.