Relationship between Health and Development

Question 1

Population growth

Answer 1

• the dynamics of population growth are explained by 3 factors: Fertility rates, Mortality rates and Migration.
• urban setting, mortality is usually low because of greater food security, and improved access to preventative med and curative meds/treatment. like immunization, and treatment for childhood pneumonia. and better living conditions.

Question 2

Demographic transition

Answer 2

• AKA Mortality transition: changes in birth, death and fertility rates in industrialized populations over the past 200 years.
• The demographic transition model: 4 stages coinciding with the urbanization and industrialization of societies.

Question 3

Stages of development are: [4]

Answer 3

Pre-modern societies
Urbanizing/industrializing
Mature industrial
Post industrial

Question 4

Migration

Answer 4

movement of population. In or Out of a setting

Question 5

Typical dynamics

Answer 5

Push factors and Pull factors

Question 6

PUSH factors

Answer 6

Negative factors prevalent in the rural setting which cause people to leave in search of a better lifestyle, elsewhere. These usually boil down to reduction in the farmland availability in rural areas for various reasons

Question 7

PULL factors

Answer 7

Attractive conditions associated with urban living that draw people towards urban centres like employment opportunities. Usually the way in which job opportunities and amenities are concentrated in cities.

Question 8

Examples of Push Factors:

Answer 8

Droughts, floods, earthquakes, war, revolution, famine, land unable to support subsistence living, rural population growth and economic shift to commodity goods which require people to BUY POWER.

Question 9

Examples of Pull Factors:

Answer 9

Jobs in industry and services, Better schools, access to health care, access to basic necessities like water, sanitation, refuse collection. Marriage, relatives in town, arts and cultural opportunities.

Question 10

Concept of development. [it is contested] it has no universally agreed-upon definition.

Answer 10

• Economic, political, socio-cultural, social, and human terms.
• Amartya Sen- defined as equivalent to human freedom.
• development requires removal of major sources of unfreedom: e.g poverty, tyranny, poor economic opportunities, neglect of public facilities, intolerance or overactivity of repressive states. Majority of people deny elementary freedoms to vast numbers.

Question 11

How Urbanization impacts Health.

Answer 11

• inequalities in health in urban settings reflect, inequalities in economic, social, and living conditions (Marmot, 2006)

Question 12

The urban advantage vs urban penalty

Answer 12

People end up living in informal settings[settlements] aka slums when they move into the urban settings. Leading to poor health.

Question 13

Health in Urban slums

Answer 13

• A slum household is a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the ff:

i) Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions.
ii) Sufficient living space which means no more than 3 people sharing the same room.
iii) Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price.
iv) Adequate sanitation in the form of private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people.
v) Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions.

In Africa overwhelming majority of people in slums live below poverty line: increase in infectious diseases, mental health problems, violence, and non-communicable diseases.

Question 14

Groups of poor people

Answer 14

• recently poor [were employed but not retrenched]
• borderline poor [unskilled, employed but below the poverty line] What is a poverty line?
• chronically poor [lasting for more than five years]

Question 15

Urbanization of poverty

Answer 15

• Africa’s urbanization has become a largely poverty-driven process: attraction of employment opportunities. Sustainability - ongoing economic growth.
• In many African countries the economy has stagnated or failed to grow as much as its population. The existing urban population has become poorer and the migrants instead of making their fortunes ,as anticipated , have expended what few resources they had and are unable to find work, making them even poorer- called Urbanization of poverty

Question 16

The Burden of Disease in Poorer Urban Communities and Slums.

Answer 16

The Burden of Disease in Poorer Urban Communities and Slums.
There is increased burden of:
- Infectious diseases [ associated with overcrowding, poor ventilation and lack of clean water and lack of adequate sanitation]
- Mental health problems due to loss of social support and cohesion, isolation and stress violence.
- Violence and crime in urban settings, especially involving the youth involving social fragmentation, stress and substance abuse and adds to mental health impact.
- Growing pandemic of non-communicable diseases because of related sedentary life-styles and changes in dietary habits towards high fat, energy rich foods. Poorer communities are constrained in their food choices and options for physically-active reactions reaction (facilities are not available or security is a concern)

Question 17

Clusters of unfreedom [unfreedoms robs people of the opportunities to:]

Answer 17

1. Economic poverty - robs people of the opportunities to - to achieve sufficient nutrition, obtain remedies for treatable illnesses, use of clean water and sanitary facilities.
2. Lack of public facilities and social care - robs people of the opportunities to:- Monitor the publics health through epidemiological programmes , Access organized arrangements for health care.
3. Denial of political and civil liberties - robs people of the opportunities to: - Participate in the social, political and economic life of the community.

Question 18

The Means of Development :

Answer 18

• Political freedoms
• Economic facilities
• Social opportunities
• Transparency guarantees
• Protective security
  = A country’s growth means that its population is entitled to enhanced economic opportunities, whether they be individual or aggregated.
  = How income derived from a “grown” economy is distributed by government and its agencies WILL affect the population’s chances of a better life.

Question 19

Development and Health

Answer 19

Why this relationship is important?

• Healthy people are likely to be more productive at many levels.
• Equating development with a narrow economic view is problematic.
• Need to separate the goal of health improvement from the general goal of economic growth.
• African American men are an example of how higher incomes per capita, when compared to much poorer Chinese men, do not lead to longer life expectancy.
• Sen cites other factors such as social arrangements, community relations, health care, health support schemes, schooling, law and order and the level of violence in a society as being other critical factors.
• “Well-being” has to do with being well, which in the most elementary terms is about being able to live long, being well-nourished, being healthy, being literate, and so on.

Amartya Sen: “Value of the living standard lies in the living , and not in the possessing of commodities”