A Formula for Health Equity

Friday, November 10, 2017

Imagine a country where some 90% of the population is covered by health insurance, more than 90% of those with HIV are on a consistent drug regime, and 93% of children are vaccinated against common communicable diseases including HPV. Where would you guess this enchanted land of medical equity is? Scandinavia? Costa Rica? Narnia?

Try Africa – Rwanda, to be precise.

In my native country, health care is a right guaranteed for all, not a privilege reserved for the rich and powerful. Rwanda remains poor, but, over the past 15 years, its health care advances have gained global attention, for good reason. In 2000, life expectancy at birthwas just 48 years; today, it’s 67. International aid has helped, but our achievements have come primarily from other, non-financial innovations.

For starters, Rwanda has established a collaborative, cluster approach to governance that allows us to achieve more with the same amount of funding. Moreover, our civil servants embrace problem solving, demonstrating a level of resourcefulness that has produced many localized solutions to human development challenges such as ensuring food security and adequate supplies of clean water and housing.

Photo courtesy of Simone McCourtie.

Source: Project Syndicate (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Health Care
Tags
global development, poverty alleviation, public health