In today’s society a lot of developing countries rely on assistance from the international lending institutions to help with funding. Africa receives about 22 percent of assistance from the World Bank. The World Bank is the main source of lending to this underdeveloped country.
By Africa having to largely depend on the World Bank and the IMF this has caused a hindering on their economic development. When the African government borrows from these institutions then the country is forced into abiding by very strict conditions, which usually benefit the richer countries in helping them to become richer.“The World Bank and IMF attach strict conditions to their loans, which give them great control over borrower governments. On average, low-income countries are subject to as many as 67 conditions per World Bank loan. African countries, in need of new loans, have had no choice but to accept these conditions. ” (Ngwane, 2008) In Africa, the average income has continued to decline.
The decline in income is a result of the World Bank’s polices that have been forced on the country for accepting payment of loans from the World Bank. Africa has been forced to begin SAP programs and other programs that slow down government spending of basic services.“They have required African governments to reduce trade barriers and open their markets, maintaining their economies as sources of cheap raw materials and cheap labor for multinational corporations. As a result of World Bank and IMF policies, average incomes in Africa have declined, and the continent’s poverty has increased. Africa’s debt crisis has worsened over the past two decades, as the failure of World Bank and IMF intervention has left African countries more dependent than ever on new loans. ” (Ngwane, 2008)Not only does Africa have to deal with the financial burdens that the World Bank has caused them due to their need for help, but also their unhealthy population has caused a burden on their economic system.
If the population was a healthier one, some of the ways their economy would be strengthened is by the women being able to produce healthier babies. The reason healthier babies would lead to a better economy is because when these babies become healthy adults there is more hands able to work, due this helps to increase life expectancy. “And it is a basic truth that poverty, mainly through infant malnourishment and mortality, adversely affects life expectancy.Indeed, economic evidence confirms that a 10% improvement in life expectancy at birth is associated with a rise in economic growth of some 0. 3-0.
4 percentage points a year. ” (Frenk, 2004). Their economy would also be strengthened if the adults had less illness and deadly disease such as AID/HIV. The reason less ill adults would cause a spike in economic growth is because companies would be more willing to train to these adults to work at their companies, but with life expectancy being so low it is a waste of money to train someone who is not expected to live a full life.“Disease hinders institutional performance too.
Lower life expectancy discourages adult training and damages productivity. Similarly, the emergence of deadly communicable diseases has become an obstacle for the development of sectors like the tourism industry, on which so many countries rely” (Frenk, 2004). With a healthier population children are able to become educated, because if the population was healthier then more men would be able to go work and the children could focus on being able to go to school and become more educated adults. “What is more, the majority of this population will belong to the youth cohort.Africa is the world’s youngest region and is expected to have the largest workforce in the world by 2040.
1 Ensuring the good health of this young population will be critical in order to harness the potential of the youth bulge and capture the so-called ‘demographic dividend” (AFDB, 20011). Lastly, a healthier population means more people are able to stand together to demand better treatment by the government. The reason the people are able to do this is because, life expectancy of the infants has gone up, then these infants are able to become educated and then they are able to become trained to get work.With more educated and well trained adults comes the urge to fight for your rights. “Rapid population growth rates also have ramifications for political and social conflicts among different ethnic, religious, linguistic and social groups.
”(OAU & ECA, 2006) The government is not really do all that could be done in this country to help improve the health care system. This country is given money by several other countries to help improve their healthcare system. But as of today this country still has a great deal of work to do, before their health care system is even able to deal with current illnesses that their people face.When the government in Africa can take on the responsibility of doing right by aid money given for health care reform, the less they will have to deal with donor governments coming in and tell them how to use the money to reform their health care system. “There are numerous actors trying to improve health care in Africa.
They include host governments, bilateral donors, international organizations, NGOs and private foundations. There is always room for improvement in the coordination of health care assistance from donor governments and organizations destined for developing nations” (Shinn, 2012).
