Question

Two ways in which the lack of basic services has a major negative impact on the health of poor people

Answer 1

Answer:

Poverty is about not having enough to meet basic needs. [1] The World Bank describes poverty as hunger, lack of shelter, not having access to school and lack of medical care. [2] The World Bank estimates that in 2012, 896 million people were living on less than $1.90 per day. [2] Most of the poor are in the developing countries including Zambia where about 82% of the population lives in abject poverty. [3] The World Health Organization [4] states that poverty creates ill-health because it forces people to live in dirty environments. In a poverty-stricken country, the poor suffer from ill health. [5]

Poverty and debt relief

The burden on the poorest countries has invited attention in recent years. Currently, the 52 poorest countries of which 37 are in Africa, owe a total of 376 billion. [6] These countries pay the same amount in debt service as they spend on health and education combined. It has been estimated that if funds were diverted back into health and education from debt payment, lives of about 7 million children a year could be saved. [6] Zambia still spends more on interest payments to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) than on health and education for its citizens. In 2001, Zambia spent $158 million on debt service repayments, compared to $24 million for health and $33 million for education. [6] It is against this background that International organisations are much concerned with the impact of poverty and macro-economic policies on health. The United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other agencies concerned with children’s health proposed a modification of the programme to protect essential health functions-structural adjustment with a human face. In response to the concern about the impact of macro-economic policies the WHO set up a commission on macroeconomics and health which has conducted a series of studies on how concrete health interventions can lead to economic growth and reduce inequity in developing countries. It recommended a set of measures designed to maximize the poverty reduction and economic development.

Multi-lateral debt relief

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) and Multi-Lateral Debt (MDR) initiatives.

hope u like it !!!