Essay On Health Is Wealth

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen postulates that health, like education, is among the basic capabilities that gives value to human life. The wealth of any nation can be measured by the health status of its citizens. This is evidenced by the popular adage which affirms that “Health is Wealth”. According to World Bank in 2005, fifty percent of economic growth differentials between developed and developing nations were attributed to poor health and a low life expectancy. The world’s central framework for reducing poverty is expressed in United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Interestingly and noteworthy, three of these eight goals pertain to health: reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. These potential improvements in health are important goals in themselves, and

Health also indirectly impacts economic growth since facets like child health affects future incomes of people through the impact health has on education. This indirect impact is better understood through observation on a family level. A healthy family, with a healthy mother and the father can hold jobs and a careers, earn more money which in turn allows them to provide for their children’s educational and social needs. Studies abide which prove that healthy, well-fed, and well-nourished children out perform their counterparts in school and this exceptional performance in school will positively impact their future income earnings. When parents ensure their children have a high probability of reaching adulthood, they will bear less children and have more amenities to invest in them. Additionally, ill health affects the poor to a grander degree given that their main, and ant times only, asset is their body. Ill health will lead to fewer alternative solutions and less opportunities with greater