Reasons why Health Status of Country Play and Important Role in its Economic Status
The health status and the economic status of a society are intertwined. This means that the investment leveled upon the health of a nation including health supporting policies should be vital. The eminence of the mortality, incapacity, and morbidity of a nation are reflected on its economic status as illustrated by Julio (2004).
A healthy population results to a more productive and effective economy. Moreover, the economic performance of a society is widely influenced by its health performance. For example, wealthier countries have generally healthier people. This can be attributed to the effective health policies that exist as well as the funding that goes into the health sector. On the contrary, poor countries have prevalence of multiple diseases. For example, malnourishments of infants and general population mortality undesirably affect life expectancy.
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The economic status of a nation determines the ability to access health care due to the cost involved. The cost of the health care provided reflects on the quality of the health services received. For example, due to enhanced technology in dealing with prevalence of diseases such as electronic modes of treatment and sharing of data concerning prevention and monitoring of diseases, wealthier countries have healthier citizens. This is guaranteed by the use of advanced technology to detect, prevent or treat diseases, infections or conditions as explained by Mahar (2006) .
On the other hand, Phelps (2003) terms the economic status in poor countries as weaker due to unhealthier citizens. This results to high death rates compared to birth rate or survival rate resulting to a weaker work force.
The table below summarizes these facts as explained by Alastair et al. (2010) and Sandra et al. (2017):
| Low-income Status | Middle-income Status | High-income Status | |
| Access | Poor or no access to health facilities | Moderate or challenging access to health facilities | Best and quick access to health facilities |
| Quality | Poor health quality | Moderate health quality | Best health quality |
| Cost | Expensive and mostly ineffective ways to treat, manage and monitor diseases | Moderately affordable and averagely effective ways to treat, manage and monitor diseases | Cheaper and most effective ways to treat, manage and monitor diseases |
References
Alastair M. Gray, Philip M. Clarke, Jane Wolstenholme, Sarah Wordsworth (2010) Applied Methods of Cost-effectiveness Analysis in Healthcare , Oxford University Press.
Julio, Frenk. (2004). Health and the economy: A vital relationship . Retrieved from http://oecdobserver.org/news/archivestory.php/aid/1241/Health_and_the_economy:_A_vital_relationship_.html
Mahar, Maggie. (2006). Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much , Harper: Collins.
Phelps, Charles E. (2003). Health Economics (3rd ed.), Boston: Addison Wesley.
Sandra, Mounier-Jack., Susannah, Mayhew., Nicholas, Mays. (2017). Integrated care: learning between high-income, and low- and middle-income country health systems, Health Policy and Planning , Volume 32, Issue 1 Pages 6–12.
