Health human rights and interventions Flashcards
GDP
- Measure of the total value of goods and capital in the country
Top 5 in 2014/15; Lowest 5;
USA Tuvalu
China Kiribati
Japan Marshall Islands
Germany Palau
UK
Advantage - Broadly represents standard of living in a country in terms of the economics
Disadvantage - Countries with a similar GDP may vary in other indicators eg life expectancy
Heightened inequalities
Doesn’t take into account informal economies eg informal agriculture
GDP per capita
- GDP per person in the country
Top 5 2014/15; Lowest 5; Luxembourg Burundi Switzerland Dominican republic of congo Norway Liberia Ireland Malawi Qatar
Advantage - Overall average of country’s wealth can be compared with other countries
Disadvantage - Ignores big inequality gaps between rich and poor
No regional inequalities - eg Rich South/Poor North in UK
GDP per capita PPP
- Adjusts GDP per capita to living costs
“Purchasing power parity”
Considers difference in living costs per country then factors that in with GDP per capita
Top 5; Lowest 5; Qatar Burundi Luxembourg DRC Singapore Malawi Brunei Niger Ireland
Advantage - Looks at how much an individual is able to purchase, instead of just giving it a meaningless number
More accurate view of how much money is worth
Disadvantage -
Only includes economic view
No regional differences
No income inequalities
GNI per capita
- Total wealth created by a country - includes income from exports minus taxes and debts
Top 5; Lowest 5; Monaco Malawi Liechtenstein Burundi Bermuda Centeral African Republic Norway Liberia Qatar DRC
Advantage -
Shows wealth created by a country
Takes into account taxes and debts which other measures may not do
Disadvantage - Currency exchange rates vary
Doesn’t measure all countries
No regional inequalities
HPI
- Index of human wellbeing and
Measures life expectancy, life satisfaction, inequality and ecological footprint
Top 5; 2019 Lowest 5; Costa Rica Ecuador Mexico Jamaica Colombia Albania Vanuatu Uruguay Vietnam Spain
Advantage - Composite measure - combines economic and environmental aspects
Disadvantage - Ignores issues such as human rights allegations
Freedom index
- Measures political rights, civil liberties and freedom status
Top 5; Lowest 5; Finland CAR Iceland Sudan Norway Turkmenisten San Marino Western Sahara Sweden Eritrea
Advantage - Includes economic and social measures
Disadvantage - Doesn’t include other factors such as life expectancy
Social progress index
- Measure national progress, includes social and environmental needs of citizens and their wellness
Top 5; Lowest 5; Norway Congo Denmark Eritrea Finland Chad Switzerland CAR Sweden South Sudan
Advantage - Excludes economic variables, so shows just social development
Disadvantage - Some countries have different ideas of what matters to do with wellness (subjective)
Gini coefficient
- Measures income inequality on a scale of 0 to 1, where 0 is everyone earns the same and 1 is all money is earned by a single person
Top 5; 2017 Lowest 5;
Ukraine South Africa
Belarus Namibia
Slovenia Centeral African Republic
Moldova Zambia
Czechia Suriname
Advantage - Measure of inequality, not a measure of average income or anything else which makes it more representative of the population
Disadvantage - Limited by lack of income data for particular countries eg least developed countries receiving aid
Index of perceived corruption
- Ranks countries on perceived level of public sector corruption - “Determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys”
Top 5; Lowest 5; Denmark Somalia New Zealand Syria Finland South Sudan Sweden Yemen Switzerland North Korea (Singapore)
Advantage - Ranks corruption affecting people the most - is most likely to have an impact on working class people, the biggest demographic
Disadvantage - Some factors are overlooked eg Singapore has no minimum wage
Literacy rates
- Percentage of people within a country with the ability to read and write
Top 5; Lowest 5; Russia South Sudan - 27.0 % Canada Afghanistan - 28.1 % USA Burkina Faso - 28.7 % Japan Niger Israel
Advantage - Shows how many could/couldn’t attend school - links to jobs in future
Shows levels of education
Disadvantage - When it’s used on it’s own it doesn’t show whether the figure is a consequence of too few schools or the fact that children are having to work
HDI
- Composite indicator.
3 indicators - education, life expectancy and GDP.
Top 5; Lowest 5; Norway Chad Australia South Sudan Germany Sierra Leone Switzerland Centeral African Republic North America Niger
Advantage - Covers a broad range of key indicators including economic, social and educational measures.
+It can be used to monitor development progress progress over a year or period of years
Disadvantage - Still doesn’t cover all factors available - others could be taken into account
Doesn’t show variations or inequalities within countries
Life expectancy
- The average number of years that a person born is expected to live in each country, based on UN data
Top 5; Lowest 5; Japan Central African Republic Switzerland Lesotho Singapore Chad Australia Nigeria Spain Sierra Leone
Advantage - Indicates level of health care provision, water quality, sanitation, and living conditions.
Disadvantage - Does not actually tell us what is responsible for the high death rate. For example a high death rate could be a result of a natural disaster not poor health care
Spending on education
- The amount of capital expended on the education of a population including educational subsidies given to households.
Top 5; Lowest 5; Costa Rica South Sudan Norway Zambia Iceland Central African Republic Belgium Somalia Brazil Monaco Israel DRC
Advantage - Education can indicate many other factors: with education comes improved employment which increases capital. Education spending also indicates development as money is being spent on improving the population prospects instead of focusing on more essential factors such as food production
Disadvantage -
One negative is that is does not detail how successful that education is. A lot can be spent on the education resources and it may be that some still do not have access to it, the capital does not reach the schools or capital is not spent effectively
Access to essential drugs
- This indicator portrays how many people in a population have access to drugs accepted as essential to good health.
Top 5;
The most countries with access above 95% are in Europe, with 25 countries
Lowest 5;
The most countries with access below 50% is in Africa, with 15 according to a 1999 WHO study
Advantage - It is a good indicator in the respect that it is a big issue worldwide and is rarely given focus by international NGOs. One third of the world lacks access to essential medicines, allowing for the indicator to shine light onto these countries and indicate that this section needs development.
Disadvantage - It doesn’t allow for as much investigation of development of more developed countries, near all highly developed countries have access to many more health drugs than those considered essential. Furthermore access is a vague term, drugs may be available but dangerous or expensive.
KOF index of globalisation
- Measures economic, social and political dimensions of globalisation
Top 5; Switzerland Netherlands Belgium Sweden UK
Lowest 5; Ukraine Jordan Uruguay Panama Mexico
Advantage - Allows for comparisons to be made between countries
Disadvantage - Smaller countries are over represented
Undocumented immigrants aren’t taken into account
