2.4 Health, human rights, and intervention Flashcards
Indicators of development (4)
- GDP per capita
- Life expectancy
- Literacy rate
- Infant mortality rate
What does GDP per capita tell us about levels of development?
- A measure of wealth and mean wealth through income.
- A high GDP per capita could represent a high-earning population and productive workforce
- GDP per capita could be skewed by very rich minorities, even if the majority of the population earn very little.
What does life expectancy tell us about levels of development?
- Measuring lifestyles and health.
- Life expectancy is an estimate of how long a person will live, made when they’re born, based on predicted advances, current services and the risk of diseases.
What does literacy rate tell us about levels of development?
- Quality of education which correlates to economic output.
- A well-educated workforce tend to earn higher wages.
- Literacy rates can also impact personal lives
What does infant mortality rate tell us about levels of development?
- Quality of healthcare and attitudes towards children.
- Infant mortality is important since infants are some of the most vulnerable people of society, so are more likely to catch disease and infection or suffer from malnutrition.
Complex indices of development examples (3)
- happy planet index
- KOF index of globalisation
- World Happiness Index
Describe the happy planet index
- Links life expectancy, wellbeing and equality with the impact of ecological footprint.
- It does not feature an economic component like most measures do.
- wellbeing is subjective
Describe the KOF index of globalisation
- Measures the strength of links between countries.
- Uses economic, social and political criteria.
- Despite not being a direct measure of development, globalisation closely links to a country’s development; nations that can prioritise globalisation tend to have good infrastructure, education for their workers’ families and economic funds available.
Describe the world happiness index
- Measures alternative ideas like social support, generosity & corruption.
- This is a qualitative measure, based on how the population feels regarding the transparency of their government.
- The validity of the World Happiness Index could be argued, since opinions can largely be influenced by the media.
Indicators used for HDI
- Health: life expectancy
- Education: expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling
- Wealth: GNI per capita
Top 5 countries HDI
- Switzerland
- Norway
- Iceland
- Australia
- Denmark
Bottom 5 countries HDI
- South Sudan
- Chad
- Niger
- Central African Republic
- Burundi
Why do some countries rank higher than others for HDI? (3)
● These nations have large economies and advancing technology (quaternary) industries, resulting in a high GDP per capita.
● Cities and towns are well structured, with strong infrastructure and transport links, excellent supplies of clean water, electricity and food to households.
● Most of these nations have free education systems, with opportunities to progress onto further education (universities) or into employment & apprenticeships.
Global trends in literacy rates
- Unsurprisingly, the literacy rates trends are similar to the Human Development Index, since literacy rates are one of many measures that are considered by the HDI.
- However, literacy rates may be unreliable, since the country itself measures it rather than an independent organisation. Therefore a country may claim to have a higher literacy rate to avoid intervention and portray the country as successful
How do different styles of governance affect development?
- Different governments have different styles and strategies of governance.
- Different countries have different focuses for their development: sustainability, economic growth, laws focus on religion, reducing inequality within the population.
- No model/ governance style is completely successful.
Describe democracy
- a system of government based on the belief that the population has equal rights in deciding on how the country is run.
- Each member of society who is eligible to vote gets to an elect representatives in government to govern on their behalf
Describe capitalism
- the economic system where industry is owned by private businesses and are run to make profit as opposed to being run by the state.
- Within this system individuals earn wages based on their skills and hours worked.
- This can lead to great inequality of wealth across the population.
- However, capitalist economies tend to be the most wealthy and successful across the globe
Describe ‘Western’ development
This westernised equal rights, democracy, capitalism - is seen by some as a successful in promoting development, since historically western countries have been (and continue to the present day) leading in economic and political significance
Why don’t some governments wish to adopt Western governance and values?
- They may go against their traditions, culture and way of life.
- Western lifestyles are unsustainable, consuming large volumes of energy and water and creating a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Many western countries have a large proportion of atheists or relaxed religious views. This can be reflected in laws: pro-abortion, divorce, mixed-gender schools. This can contradict other religions’ laws.
Describe Sharia law model of governance
- law and religion are intertwined unlike in Western governments where secularisation has occurred.
- Sharia Law is particularly different from Western laws in its attitudes towards marriage, inheritance and women’s role in society.
- The severity of interpretations of the law is disputed between various Islamic countries, with Saudi Arabia having one of the strictest interpretations.
- As a consequence of this they have some of the most controversial views on women’s treatment and rights.
- They also have the death penalty and there’s much debate about their human rights record.
- Due to Saudi’s oil wealth they are still central players in the world’s economy
Describe communism
the opposite to capitalism, prominent industries are state-owned which means competition between businesses is reduced. As a consequence of less focus on profits, working conditions and pay should be more regulated and fairer
Why hasn’t communism been successful historically?
- Little economic growth, as there is no foreign direct investment or competition between companies.
- Wages were controlled by bureaucrats within government, so inequality still existed within wealth distribution and political voice.
- To maintain their one-party control, governments would restrict freedom of speech and human rights of their population.
Describe authoritarianism
- Authoritarian States (sometimes called totalitarian) are the opposite to democratic states, where decisions are made by the government or an individual alone.
- Authoritarian states tend to have a bad record for development and human rights
Why do developing countries have lower life expectancies? (5)
- poor healthcare due to lack of investment, education, and long journeys to hospitals
- poor access to food
- poor access to clean water
- climate can promote diseases (e.g. malaria in Africa)
- overcrowding increases spread of diseases
Why do developed countries have higher life expectancies? (3)
● Most developed countries have excellent access to clean water, some countries rarely experiencing severe drought.
● Most populations have disposable income, which they can spend on improving their lifestyle and wellbeing: central heating, fitness/ gym membership, dishwashers. This will reduce their risk of illness and injury, promote healthy living and so extend their life expectancies.
● Developed nations have good healthcare access, life insurance and can afford advancing medical procedures and medicines.
Health issues in developed nations (2)
- Lifestyle choices - including smoking, alcohol consumption and excessive saturated fats
- Large cities are still susceptible to infectious disease, due to their large population density and high net movement of people daily. They are also prone to extreme weather events (long- period heatwaves, blizzards) that can heighten illness, isolate vulnerable individuals and put pressure on supplies of water and food.
Describe variances in life expectancy across the UK
There is a ten year difference between life expectancies across the UK, with the highest life expectancies tending to be in the South.
Why has life expectancy improved in most places in the UK? (3)
- Changing Employment - As the UK develops, more people are employed in tertiary and quaternary industries so fewer people have physically demanding jobs.
- Increasing average wealth - Households earn more on average, so can spend more on improving their lifestyles and so have higher life expectancies.
- Fewer risks to life in the last decade, due to the introduction of stricter health & safety regulations in the workplace, increased vaccination programmes and improved knowledge from a young age of the hazards of smoking, crossing roads, etc.
Why do some parts of the UK have lower life expectancies?
● Economic decline - often due to deindustrialisation - can lead to sudden unemployment and deprivation within a community.
● Culture - e.g. of excessive drinking and smoking
● Densely populated cities are vulnerable to infectious diseases, especially due to the large net movement of people (tourists, business people, locals). This will limit life expectancy for cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham.
Why are there health inequalities between genders?
- In some countries, inequality in the roles of gender will affect their health.
- Historically, in England, men would mine and so would be exposed to particulates and risks (mine collapsing, gas explosions, accident with equipment). Therefore, men would have a lower life expectancy due to their occupations.
- This is the case for mineral mining across Africa, where men face respiratory diseases and chemical exposure whilst the mother raises the family or have less-hazardous occupation.
Why are there health inequalities between socio-economic groups?
- Inequality between socio-economic groups has a large influence over an individual’s health.
- Often, low income socio-economic groups are employed in the more riskier or physically demanding jobs, due to the health risk associated with the work.
- Also, low income socio-economic groups have some of the lowest education rates. This can affect their attitude to healthy lifestyles and achieving a higher-paid, lower-risk job.
Why do indigenous and minority communities often have low life expectancies? (2)
- Limited provisions in accordance with their culture
- physical isolation from services
