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Health & Poverty - Introduction

Integrating health into poverty reduction strategies 

 

The challenge:

developing and promoting the most effective health strategies that contribute to reduction of poverty

 


 

Poverty causes ill health and ill health causes poverty. Poor people are more likely to be ill, yet least able to access health care. Equally, ill health can lead to destitution. The high cost of seeking medical care, combined with a loss of work and income, can quickly create a spiral of poverty.

At national level, the burden of ill health shouldered by poor countries has been massively underestimated. A growing body of evidence suggests that it is impeding social and economic development. For example, HIV-prevalence rates of 10 to 15 per cent – not uncommon – can lead to a reduction in per capita GDP growth of 1 per cent per year.

The reverse is also true. For the individual, good health is an asset that allows learning, work and play. At the national level, this translates into better educational results, higher productivity and social development. Health gains trigger economic growth and, if the benefits of that growth are evenly distributed, this can lead to poverty reduction. 

 

WHO’s approach to Poverty and Health and the role of HDE

 

In Executive Board paper 105/5, WHO sets out a rationale for action on health and poverty to guide the work of the WHO secretariat and member states, and provide a platform for collaboration with development partners.

 

The EB paper includes a series of guiding principles which seek to reduce poverty and promote human development by (1) improving and protecting the health of the poor and (2) reducing the health gaps between rich and poor. The paper recognizes that many of the determinants of health depend on developments beyond the health sector and that, as a result, a health strategy to reduce poverty should include the following components:

  • Acting on the determinants of health by influencing development policy.
  • Reducing risks through a broader approach to public health.
  • Focusing on the health problems of the poor.
  • Ensuring that health systems serve the poor more effectively.

HDE was closely involved with the drafting of the EB paper; the paper’s first component, ‘acting on the determinants of health by influencing development policy’, relates to HDE’s mandate. HDE was created to facilitate a process of institutional mainstreaming across WHO on how health (and improving the health of the poor)  can contribute to poverty reduction.

HDE also provides technical inputs on health and poverty reduction to WHO management and programmes and offers policy guidance, advice and technical support to member countries, development partners, NGOs and civil society.

 

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