Health + human rights Flashcards
What is human development?
used to describe a country improvement over time as well as increasing people’s opportunities
What are welfare states?
- occurs in most developed countries -> where governments use taxes to fund a welfare states system
Promotes human wellbeing by redistributing resources for those in need
Why is GDP a good measure of development?
- economic growth drives other types of development
- advances in health + life expectancy can only be delivered by economic growth
Why is GDP not a good measure of development?
Doesn’t consider quality of life
What is Bolivia like under Evo Morales?
- taxes have been raised on the profits of oil TNCs to over 80% + these have been used to reduce poverty
- has a focus on environmental + social progress
- nationalised oil + gas
What is the Mathusian viewpoint on resources?
As population reaches resource limit -> Mathusian Catastrophe occurs -> war, famine etc
What is the Happy Planet Index?
Happy Planet Index = life expectancy x experienced wellbeing / ecological footprint
How do Costa Rica maintain a high life expectancy?
- Has an average life expectancy of 78.5
- Population benefits from government + private healthcare
- Residents eat well + exercise + have genetic characteristics for longevity
- Large pre-natal outreach
- Education programmes
How are Costa Rican’s wellbeing maintained?
- Military abolished in 1948
- spending is instead spent on education
- all citizens have healthcare + access to education
- peace is a big theme (uni courses on it)
- big focus on relationships + community
- lots of spare time
How is the ecological footprint maintained in Costa Rica ?
- Costa Rica has pioneered techniques in land managements, reforestation + fossil fuel alternatives
- Oil exporters pay a special tac -> used to pay locals to protect the environment -> this prevents illegal logging from being profitable
- areas suffering from deforestation converted into national parks
- 99% of energy is from renewable sources
What was Hans Rosling’s view on development?
He felt the way to improve future goals such as health + human rights was through economic growth
- also argued that human rights was vital for economic growth and that these cannot exist without a good stable government
How can access to education be measured?
- access to education
- attendence levels
- exam results
- how many years in school
- whether boys + girls have equal access to education
What is human capital?
the total amount of skills and knowledge a country’s population has
Why is education important for development?
Education is crucial to economic development as it increases the value of ‘human capital’ e.g skilled workforce
Education and levels of income are linked
How is gender inequality shown across the world?
UNESCO found education still faces gender inequality
In sub-sahara Africa fewer girls finish both primary + secondary - 72% boys 66% girls
What barriers are girls facing when trying to achieve education?
- In some places, school do not meet safety, hygiene or sanitation needs of girls
- Boys are more likely to go to school as they are the breadwinners
- Cultural views about women being mothers exist
What has been done in Bangladesh to overcome the challenge to education?
- Employ women in every village to educate on family planning + contraception
- Government pay families to keep girls in school
What has been the outcome for the development project focused on girl’s education in Bangladesh?
- No of babies per women has decreased from 8 to 2.2
- Life expectancy has increased
- More females have careers - increased economic growth
How can health impact human development?
- Childhood diseases lead to stunting + poor cognitive development -> affects education
- diseases reduce capacity to work
- family members may have to spend long periods looking after ill family members due to poor health service
What is social progress?
the idea that societies can improve over time in economic, human and environmental terms
Governments play a large role in this
France - education + healthcare spending
HEALTH
- is predominatly state funded
- 4th highest spending as a % in G20
- families pay top up insurance of £150 a month
WELFARE
- high welfare + pension payments
EDUCATION
- high spending
- £8500 per student per year
Saudi Arabia - education + healthcare spending
Autocratic state
HEALTH
- state funded
- high quality hospitals
WELFARE
- pensions are low
- only 1/3 of working people in employment
- only 22% of women work
EDUCATION
- education focused on religious teaching
- Saudi teachers are often poorly trained
- Expat schools much better -> gated as they can be bombed
What are SDG’s?
Sustainable Development Goals
- 17 goals to promote development universally
What are MDG’s?
Millennium Development Goals
- ran from 2000-2015
- created by UN
- aimed to improve the lives of people in developing countries through a global response
- 8 goals
What are 2 examples of MDG’s?
- to 1/2 proportion of people suffering from hunger
- reduce by 2/3 the under 5’s mortality rate
- eliminate gender disparity in primary + secondary education
What were drawbacks to the MDGs?
- only 1 of the goals achieved
- some countries (China) had large success whilst there was limited progress in South Asia + Africa
- Conflict set back some progress
Difference between MDGs + SDGs?
SDGs have a bigger focus on sustainable development
Describe an example of a non-secular governance ( SHARIA LAW)
When law + religion are interwined.
Sharia law is a religious Islamic view in law which covers inheritance, marriage, contracts + criminal punishments
Some countries use Sharia law to justify an authoritarian approach
Give an example of when a non-secular government has restricted reduction in gender disparity?
Sharia law - has been used to restrict women’s rights + to jusifty the poor treatment of women.
Death penalty is also justified under Sharia Law
What is an example of governance which uses the model of sustainability?
BOLIVIA
Morales lead to the creation of the 2009 Constitution focused on the Law of Mother Earth
Includes
- Mother Nature has rights
- Government has duty in protecting mother Nature e.g thorough removal of WMDs
This is an approach to put nature first in the response to climate change
What is a communist model of governance?
- Prominent industries are state-owned
- working conditions + pay more regulated
However - less economic growth (less focus on profits)
- To maintain one-part control, governments would restrict freedom of speech and human rights
e.g China
What is an authoritarian government?
Where descions are made by the government or one person alone. e.g dictatorships
- have a bad human rights record
NORTH KOREA
- persecution of anyone who questions the government
- execution/ torture of prisoners
What is a democratic political system?
Allows people to vote out a government that is doing a bad job
What are the different versions of democracy?
Full democracy
- political freedom fully protected + respected
Flawed democracy
- elections are fair and civil liberities protected but they are problems e.g media may not be free
Hybrid regimes
- elections are not free + fair, corruption widespread
What is an example of a democratic state where human rights violations still occur? INDIA
Large human rights violations such as
- 70% of prison population awaiting trial
- security forces act with impunity
What is an example of regional health differences?
North- South divide
Blackpool has a life expectancy of 53.3 years
Richmond-Upon-Thames has a life expectancy of 71.9 years
- more access to private health care
- better lifestyle (gym, access to better foods)
What is an example of health differences between indigenous and non-native people?
AUSTRALIA
Aboriginal life expectancy for men is currently estimated to be 10.6 years lower than that of non-indigneous men and 9.5 years lower for women
Indigenous
- live in remote areas - limited access to healthcare
- High smoking rates - indigenous people only recently exposed to addictive substances
- Type 2 diabetes more prevalent (less education on foods/diet)
Non-native people
-better access to healthcare
- better education
What is the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)
- established in 2002
- created to help achieve MDG 2+3
- invests in early childhood education + aims to develop a sound educational system (focused on poorest + most disadvantages children)
What views do IGOs often promote?
Neo-liberal views
What are neo-liberal views?
Views in favour of:
- reduced state intervention
- free-marker capitalism
- freedom for private businesses to trade
- promotes free trade
- privatising state assets e.g water