Nigeria joins the rest of the world in celebrating World Population Day 2018. How does population affect healthcare?
There is a very popular British saying that “The more the merrier” which connotes “the more people the better”, “the more hands on a task, the faster” and so on. This holds true in areas of manufacturing, economy, technology and subsistence agriculture but when it comes to health, it becomes a paradox.
Taking an insightful look at today’s commemoration of the World Population Day, healthnews.africa compares the 5 most populous nations with the least populated ones on the quality and efficiency of healthcare service.
CHINA: While it is said that 95% of China’s 1.6 billion population have at least basic healthcare, the 5% about 80 million Chinese people (the size of Germany) are leaving under extremly poor health condition with a substantial number of the 95% accessing basic healthcare are still plagued with untold health challenges. This was due to their overpopulation. This population challenge has posed serious problems in financing healthcare, distribution of health materials, food safety, sanitation and environmental pollutions.
In a report published by the Pew Research Center, more then 69% of Chinese respondents agree this is “very big” and “moderately big” problems for their healthcare.
INDIA: The second most populous country in the world, India is also a country plagued with a lot of health problems. With a population of over 1.1 billion people of which a significant number are extremely poo, work in the low paying informal sectors of the economy and live in degrading environmental conditions, the average economy, pressure on the few health infrastructures, maintaining the facilities and allocating enough resources to have a universal healthcare system have made India to stillbe home of prevalent cases of malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera and other oral-faecal diseases.
USA: The number one choice of Global Immigration,The US at over 300 million peopleis a surprising candidate on this list. While it not for want of facilities, infrastructure or allocation of resources that made it a member on this list (the US spends more on health than any country in the world), its problem hinges policies,health laws and who should or not benefit from it. An increasing population of undocumented immigrants who are are often unemployed or underpaid means millions of people on American soil do not have wholesome access to healthcare despite the billions of dollars spent annually. The fact that healthcare in America did not make 20 on the list of the best systems in the world makes healthcare spending in the country a white elephant project. And the influx of immigrants which mounts pressure on resource administration and control a major cause.
BRAZIL: With a population of about 208 million people, this emerging South American superpower is still bedeviled with major health challenges that stem from resource allocation, infrastructure breakdown and maintenance due to the ever-growing population without the capital development, skilled manpower and efficiency to match. Diseases like malaria, schistosomiasis, Guardia etc still kill countless people especially in resource-poor ghettos (favelas).
NIGERIA: With 180 million people, Nigeria is the seventh biggest country in the world by population and a giant of Africa whose healthcare problems always tend in gigantic dimensions. An ever-increasing population, flight of health professionals to foreign nations and decaying infrastructures have all conspired to become the bane of healthcare in Nigeria. Epidemics of polio, cholera, chicken pox and measles are commonplace. Also more deadly ones like HIV/AIDs, Lassa Fever, Ebola have all claimed millios of lives. The large population and its attendant high unemployment rate, large illiterate population have made Nigerias extremely poor and incapable of living and working in hygienic, disease-free environments.
THE SMALLER COUNTRIES WITH THE BEST HEALTHCARE
Our research has shown that a country’s size is a huge determinant in the allocation of resources to different sectors and also play a major role on how deep the impacts of the allocations are felt by the citizens. We also noticed that the countries with the best healthcare are not only small or averagely-sized but also have some of the largest income per capita.
In a list of 16 countries with the best healthcare in the world for 2018 compiled by the Nordic Business World, Luxembourg, a country of 582,972 people is first place with a life expectancy of 82 years. It is followed by Singapore, a country of 5.7 million people with a life expectancy of 83.1 years. Switzerland at third position has an approximate population of 8.5 million with a universal healthcare where all citizens must have a mandatory health insurance. Other countries like Sweden, Austria, Canada, Norway and Hong Kong have lesser number of people with the highest of them (Canada) not passing the 38 million mark and this is even due largely to their professional immigration program.
Instructively, even equally small but poorer African countries like Togo, Gambia, Madagascar, Cape Verd, Senegal etc manage the health of their citizens better than do Nigeria and other bigger countries. They are able to allocate more to healthcare and nip any epidemic in the bud because response time is faster and impact is easy to assess.
In healthcare it seems, like “the lesser is actually the merrier”. The smaller, the more organized, the better.