Healthcare is a key component in national development which all governments have to set as a high priority. As the saying goes, a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. Without quality healthcare the working force will be unproductive hence a dwindling economy. Ensuring quality healthcare is a never ending process. Policy makers, bureaucrats and health personnel have to understand their environment, adopt to change, implement plans and many more.
Good health boosts labor productivity, educational achievement and income, and so reduces poverty. People with greater health not only have fewer sick days at work, but are also more mentally and physically prepared for work. Healthier individuals could reasonably be expected to produce more per hour worked. On the one hand, productivity could increase directly due to enhanced physical and mental activity. Physically and mentally active individuals could also make a better and more efficient use of technology, machinery or equipment.
If almost every other country on the globe agrees healthcare is a right to each and every citizen, how can we be blind to that? Sometimes crowd psychology is for the worst, but on the international level where the system seems to work for everyone, it would be better to follow the crowd. However, if healthcare were a human right, we would, unfortunately, have to give up other rights and privileges. Implementing universal healthcare in the United States could lead to a form socialism and a looser control on the government; “Socialism, by definition, entails government control of the distribution of goods and services. Under a single-payer system where everyone has a right to health care, and all health care bills are paid by the government, the government can control the distribution of health care services,” states the article Should All Americans Have the Right (Be Entitled) to Health Care?
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) are the world’s sets of time bound goals which was born out of the UN Millennium Declaration during the Millennium Summit in September 2000 with a deadline set for 2015. MDGs with eight goals, had progress well in achieving many of it’s goals. It has also brought significant change in many of the developing nation. However, even with its significant achievement and progress, MDGs still seem to lack in many areas. First of all, MDGs seem to lack the very ground of its own development process.
Economic growth is the main and one of the drivers towards the human development, but for any notion to reach human development it must be developed economically, socially. Chinese people’s economic choices were increased since 1979, but the development of other elements of human development such as health care and basic education were not growing, moreover there were no equal opportunities, which supports the argument that economic growth a necessary but insufficient condition for human development. The performance of human development in China can be explained by the change from highly centralized institutions to decentralize institutions even the government is unable to provide the basic needs due to its weakness of resources and the lack of commitment and
Overview of the Millennium Development Goals Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a linked set of objectives – a portfolio of targets that represent a coherent assault on the problem of development (Hall, 2005). It expresses the shared commitment made by the Global community to fight poverty. The MDGs was endorsed by 189 nations as international commitment to the priorities for achieving sustainable development (CGIAR, 2005). It has 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 performance indicators on poverty reduction, human well-being, social opportunities, economic conditions and a healthy natural environment. Broadly, these goals are: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
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).
Use people to make their acquired capabilities for productive purpose. Balance between the two sides is essential. While, human resource development focuses only on supply side, the human development focuses both on supply and demand side. The central conclusions of first human development report were: • The link between economic growth and human progress is not automatic: GNP growth accompanied by reasonable equitable distribution of income is generally the effective path to sustain human development. If the distribution of income is unequal and if the social expenditure is low or distributed unevenly, human development may not improve much despite GNP growth.
First thing that needs to be said is human rights plays a vital role in one and all’s life, however, not all of us pay serious attention to it. According to all accounts, all we know is government tries to provide an adequate healthcare and education to people all the time. As it states in constitution of most countries, everyone has the right to the highest achievable standard of physical and mental health, which are access to all medical services, sanitation, adequate food, decent housing, healthy working conditions, and a clean environment. In terms of education, it should be free and obligatory, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Technical, professional education must be made generally available and higher education must
Education creates social benefits in a way that it can improve economic development on a whole. Better education can translate into sustained growth, which can bring a large and relatively quick reduction in poverty. Female education leads to improved health care for children, greater labor force participation by women and lower fertility rates. Education can also help combat diseases such as AIDS and HIV. Politically a well-educated population is more likely to have a healthy sustainable democracy.