DID YOU KNOW...

First off... I posted 4 posts tonight (but dated them for the days that it happened) so be sure to scroll down and check them out.

Foreign aid health programs are actually profitable!!! Like zomgosh, Natalie must be full of it! Sometimes even returning $60 for every $1 spent (tuberculosis).

I'm working on my international health class and I'm reading Levine articles and I'm so astonished! I mean, I've always been pro-health & public health in developing countries (well all countries)... but it was for ethical and personal beliefs concerning human rights. But I never considered the economic effects!! (see below and feel free to click on links for more info)


Think about it. Here is a generalized and oversimplified way of explaining it:

You have a disease or parasite that is perpetrating poverty because it debilitates adults (and children). This means that they can't work because they are sick/bedridden/ handicapped. It also means sick children can't go to school (feeding the poverty cycle), it increases malnutrition in children (because parents can't care for them if they themselves are sick), malnutrition leads to other health complications making health care even more expensive.

Then someone rich and smart comes along and says, "hmmm I'll pay to implement a program that will change behavior, increase accesses to basic an easy health care...etc". And in the long run prevent the problem, leading to eradication.

Once the target population is alleviated from the epidemic they can work, go to school etc.. which helps the economy. Which not only stops human suffering, stops the poverty cycle (and we won't even go into how that alleviates political unrest).

Here are some examples of cost effectiveness:

Small Pox: Because of the eradication of Small Pox, every 26 days the US saves the amount we contributed to the eradication of Small Pox because we no longer have to vaccinate and treat the disease.

TB in China: an economic rate of return of $60 for each dollar invested.

Guinea Worm: economic rate of return based on agricultural productivity alone has been estimated at 29 percent

Onchocerciasis/ River Blindess: Project totaled $600 million. The annual return on investment was calculated to be about 20%, primarily attributable to increased agricultural output; about $3.7 billion will be generated from improved labor and agricultural productivity.

BEAUTIFUL