Question

Out of 20 unhealthiest countries in the world in 2019, the Indigo Wellbeing Index (IWI) has identified St. Lucia as the second unhealthiest country, Barbados as the fifth unhealthiest country, Haiti as the ninth unhealthiest country, Trinidad and Tobago as the fourteenth unhealthiest country, Jamaica as the sixteenth unhealthiest country, and Dominican Republic as the nineteenth unhealthiest country. There are only three African countries in the cohort: South Africa as the first unhealthiest country, Central African Republic as the eighth unhealthiest country and Egypt as the eighteenth unhealthiest country.

(a) Discuss in the context of this sample that wealthy country is not necessarily healthy country.                                                         

(b)   Suppose that you are an advisor to Barbados Ministry of Health and Wellness and that your task is to mount and defend policies to improve Barbados’s IWI ranking, for example, from 0.34 to 0.60 in the long run. Present and discuss the policies of interest.

Notes: (i) IWI goes from 0 (unhealthiest) to 1( healthiest). It is based on 10 items: blood pressure, blood glucose, obesity, depression, happiness, alcohol use, tobacco use, exercise, healthy life expectancy, and government spending on health care.

(ii) The sizes of 2019 GDP per capita (using purchasing power parity, PPP) in international $, are the following: Central African Republic 681 (2017); Haiti 1,940; Jamaica 9,726; South Africa 13,498 (2017); St. Lucia 15,225; Egypt 16,953 (2017); Barbados 18,886; Dominican Republic 19,452; and Trinidad and Tobago 33,026.

Answer 1

a) This particular context or discussion highlights or reflects the fundamental theoretical difference between economic growth or progress and economic development of any country which still remains one of the critical central policy issues for most of the countries from a socio-economic standpoint. The evaluation or measurement of the concept of economic growth is traditionally confined to the periodic fluctuations in various macroeconomic indicators such as national output, national and per-capita income, per-capita GDP, the overall unemployment rate, inflation rate, profitability of firms or business organizations, and so forth which strictly emphasizes on the intrinsic macroeconomic performance of any country. O the other hand, economic development is a relatively more comprehensive and holistic theoretical concept which ideally measures the overall socio-economic progress and improvement in any country on the basis of various social, infrastructural and economic factors or determinants such as general health or medical conditions of people, government expenditure on health care infrastructure, life expectancy at birth, school enrolment rate, overall happiness level or index, and so on. In this context, the evaluation of the overall health or medical condition and infrastructure of the respective countries can ideally be considered as one of the important components or parameters of their overall economic development as opposed to the per-capita GDP which predominantly reflects the macroeconomic performance of these countries. Now, observe that despite comparatively higher per-capita GDP in 2019, many of the concerned nations or countries such as Barbados, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, etc. are some of the world's leading "unhealthy" countries in 2019 based on the Indigo Wellbeing Index(IWI). The report essentially indicates that despite relatively higher per-capita GDP or income, many of these countries seriously or alarmingly lack the necessary infrastructural endowments or support system to establish a strong, stable and sustainable medical or health condition on the basis of the evaluation criteria such as overall health/medical conditions of the domestic population, life expectancy, adequate government or administrative spending on health or medical infrastructural development, overall happiness index or level, and so on. Hence, the comparative macroeconomic progress and stability in these countries do not necessarily or practically document the overall health or medical conditions in these respective countries. Furthermore, based on the report generated and published by IWI, the health index clearly does not comprise of per-capita GDP or income as one of the criteria or parameters to evaluate the overall health or medical condition of any country reinforcing the practical advocacy that the overall macroeconomic scenario in any country does not appropriately or comprehensively manifest the internal socio-economic infrastructural conditions prevailing in that particular country.

b) From a general or overall standpoint, some of the major policy considerations to improve Barbados's IWI ranking can evidently include higher government spending or expenditure to improve and mobilize the medical infrastructure in public hospitals and health facilities, installation of more high-quality advanced equipment and medical tools to increase and improve medical testing facilities of the patients, focusing on improving the nutritional capacities and conditions especially of mothers and pregnant women to ensure stable medical conditions of newborn babies and infants, the providence of nutritional endowments and facilities in both the urban and interior rural areas to ensure better overall life expectancy in the country, etc. Furthermore, in this pursuit, the health ministry under the central or federal government of the country can also emphasize on recruiting or deploying more number of psychological counselors or advisors in various public hospital medical centers to strengthen the psychiatric and emotional wellness departments in these institutions which can eventually improve the mental and psychological well-being of the general population. With regards to reducing the incidence of tobacco among the general population of the country, the health officials and ministerial staff under the health ministry can raise and support nationwide anti-tobacco awareness campaigns which could inform people about the medical or health detriment of tobacco use at a personal as well as collective level. In this context, the health ministry can also encourage and support different individual health organizations and NGO institutions to conduct awareness campaigns and public demonstrations in various ways and capacities. Much of the ministerial spending/expenditure and initiatives should also be directed to developing the educational infrastructure to develop well-equipped doctors and competent medical staff in the country by constructing more number of medical colleges and providing highly advanced and competitive medical courses and degree programs. This would not only ensure a sustainably competent and mechanized medical workforce in the country but also significantly improve or strengthen the overall health/medical infrastructure in the country in conjunction with high-quality and advanced medical equipment and testing facilities in public hospitals and health institutions as mentioned previously. Therefore, a comprehensive and holistic policy approach by the health ministry in Barbados can potentially raise or improve its overall IWI ranking in the future.