NGO Another Way (Stichting Bakens Verzet), 1018 AM Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 

Edition 02: 18 April, 2010.

Edition 05 : 22 December, 2013.

 

01. E-course : Diploma in Integrated Development (Dip. Int. Dev)

 

Quarter 1.

 

 

SECTION A : DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS.

 

 

Study value : 04 points out of 18.

Indicative study time: 112 hours out of 504.

 

Study points are awarded only after the consolidated exam for Section A : Development Problems has been passed.

 


 

First block : Poverty and quality of life.

 

Study value : 02 points out of 18.

Indicative study time: 57 hours out of 504.

 

Study points are awarded only after the consolidated exam for Section A : Development Problems has been passed.

 


 

First block : Poverty and quality of life.

 

First Block : Section 1. Analysis of the causes of poverty. [26.50 hours]

First Block : Section 2. Services needed for a good quality of life.

First Block : Exam. [ 4 hours each attempt]

 


 

Block 1 of Section 1. Analysis of the causes of poverty. [26.50 hours]

 

Part 1 : Introduction to the causes of poverty.[06.50 hours]

 

01. Definition of poverty.

02. Some factors linked with poverty.

03. Debts and subsidies.

04. Financial leakage : food and water industries.

05. Financial leakage : energy.

06. Financial leakage : means of communication.

07. Financial leakage : health and education.

08. Financial leakage : theft of resources.

09. Financial leakage : corruption.

10. The industry of poverty.

 


 

Part 1 : Introduction to the causes of poverty.[06.50 hours]

 

07. Financial leakage : health and education.

 

Consider the following slide:

 

07. Financial leakage : health and education.

 

Health.

 

Improved health.

 

According to Encylodpædia Britannica, the law of diminishing returns is an “economic law stating that if one input in the production of a commodity is increased while all other inputs are held fixed, a point will eventually be reached at which additions of the input yield progressively smaller, or diminishing, increases in output.”

 

“Public expenditure  on primary health care and public health is more pro-poor than spending on hospital-based curative care. Rethinking Poverty : Report on the World Social Situation 2010. United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs New York 2009 p. 126 (ISBN 978-92-1-130278-3).

 

According to the Report on Human Development for 2007/2008 published by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) life expectancy at birth was  77.9 years in the United States and 77,7 years in Cuba. Americans spent US$ 6.096 per person on health, Cubans US$ 229.  Americans had 256 doctors per 100.000 inhabitants,  Cubans 591. The lack of national health cover in the United States and the injustice connected with it are known throughout the world. This situation is unlikely to improve much with the recent reforms introduced by President Obama, which tend to leave control in the hands of private health-care companies. All Cubans enjoy available health services without exclusion.

 

«In the year 2000, Dr. J. Koplan, the director of the US-Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pointed out that a person in 1900 could expect to live on average, to the age of 45. Today, in developed countries, life expectancy is nearly 80 years. Of the 35 years of lifespan people in developed countries have gained, only about five years have been attributed to advances in curative medicine. The other 30 years of lifespan have been attributed to improvements in sanitation, health education, the effect of vaccines, and other hygiene and public health advances. The retreat of the great levels of diseases was due to more urban improvements, superior nutrition, and public health and hygiene rather than to curative medicine (Koplan, 2000). Towards Sustainable Global Health, ed. Exner M., Klein G et al, United Nations University, Institute for Environment Education and Human Society, Source 11/2008, p. 24.)

 

1. Opinion.

 

Apply the law of diminishing returns to the above statements and draw your conclusions.

 

Health and local development.

 

2. Opinion.

 

Make a list of feasible local actions in your project area which would enable the populations to «recover» 30 of the 35 years mentioned by Dr. Koplan.

 

The role of  pharmaceutical multinationals.

 

3. Opinion.

 

What interests would pharmaceutical multinationals have in supporting the actions on your list?

 

Education.

 

Education costs.

 

The education of new generations is the second largest investment after that for health made by  «modern » societies. In some countries, such as Cuba, it occupies the top position.

 

Without taking into account private education, the United States spend 5,9% of the Gross Domestic Product on education. This is 15,3% of U.S. government expenditures. Other figures are 5,9% and 10,9% respectively for France, 16,6% et 9,8% respectively for Cuba, 3,5% et 14,1% respectively for Benin, and  2,2 and 8,1% respectively for R. D. Congo. (Resource :  Report on Human Development for 2007/2008.  UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), tables 11 and 19.

 

4. Opinion.

 

What conclusions can you draw from the figures supplied by the UNDP?

What are the differences between the rich and the poor countries ?

 

Education and local development.

 

In many poor countries, education, especially education in rural areas, is often left to private initiative.

 

Public educational institutions are often under-financed.  Teachers do not always receive their salaries regularly.

 

5. Research.

 

Make a list of the educative institutions and their specific problems in your chosen area.

 

Brain drain.

 

The most qualified people in developing countries usually find work outside their area of origin and often outside their country of origin.

 

«Some institution-based surveys in India put the emigration of engineers from the Indian Institutes of Technology between 22 percent and 33 percent, and from a premier medical institution at 55 percent. »  Skilled labour migration from developing countries : Study on India, Khadria B., Migration Paper 49, ILO International Labour Organisation, Geneva, 2002.

 

The same tendency can be seen in African countries such as Nigeria.

 

The following quotation is taken from the : Inverser la “fuite des cerveaux” africains, Mutume G., Afrique Relance 17#2 (July 2003) p.1 ; United Nations,  New York, 2003. (Translation from French : T.E.Manning)

 

“The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the International Migrations Organisation estimate that between 1960 and 1975, 27 000 Africans left the continent to go to industrialised countries. Between 1975 and 1984, their number reached 40 000. Estimations are that since 1990,  at least 20 000 persons have been leaving the continent each year.

 

“Brain drain occurs where a country loses its qualified labour force through emigration.. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) notes that in the case of Africa the most striking factor is the emigration of doctors. At least 60 % of  doctors trained in Ghana since the 19080s have left the country.

 

“This phenomenon weighs heavily on the continent”, says Mrs Ndioro Ndiaye, Adjunct General Manager of the World Health Organisation. To compensate the lack of qualified personnel, African countries have to pay about 4 billion  dollars each year to employ 100 000 non-African expatriates. "It’s time to adopt political programmes to inverse the devastating effects of the brain drain", she says. » 

 

6. Opinion.

 

Express your reaction on the above notes on the brain drain.

 

What is the relationship between the consequences of this financial leakage and the payments made by emigrants to their families in their countries of origin? Which outweighs the other?

 



 First  block : Poverty and quality of life.


Index : Diploma in Integrated Development  (Dip.Int.Dev)

 List of key words.

 List of references.

  Course chart.


 Courses available.

Homepage Bakens Verzet.

 

 

 

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Licence.