Photo: Martina Bacigalupo for The New York Times
An American pediatric specialist during a radiology teaching session with pediatric residents in Kigali, Rwanda. In the past 15 years, Rwanda has worked to build a near-universal health care system.
We like to think that American medical care is top drawer, but in some developing countries, access, at least, is much better. Would you believe Rwanda, where Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health and others have offered help to local leaders?
Eduardo Porter has the story at the NY Times, “Rwanda’s economy adds up to some $700 per person, less than one-eightieth of the average economic output of an American. A little more than two decades ago it was shaken by genocidal interethnic conflict that killed hundreds of thousands. Still today, a newborn Rwandan can expect to live to 64, 15 years less than an American baby.
“But over the past 15 years or so, Rwanda has built a near-universal health care system that covers more than 90 percent of the population, financed by tax revenue, foreign aid and voluntary premiums scaled by income.
“It is not perfect. A comparative study of health reform in developing countries found that fewer than 60 percent of births there were attended by skilled health workers. Still, access to health care has improved substantially even as the financial burden it imposes on ordinary Rwandans has declined. On average, Rwandans see a doctor almost twice a year, compared with once every four years in 1999.
“Rwandan lives may be short, but they are 18 years longer than they were at the turn of the century — double the average increase of their peers in sub-Saharan Africa. …
“In some dimensions of health care, [Rwanda] gives the United States a run for its money.
“Its infant mortality rate, for one, dropped by almost three-quarters since 2000, to 31 per 1,000 births in 2015, vastly outpacing the decline in its region. In the United States, by contrast, infant mortality declined by about one-fifth over the period, to 5.6 per 1,000 births. …
“Critically, Rwanda may impress upon you an idea that has captured the imagination of policy makers in even the poorest corners of the world: Access to health care might be thought of as a human right.”
Read how poor countries, such as Ghana, Peru, Vietnam, and Thailand, are acting on that belief, here. At the rate they’re going with access, it is reasonable to suppose that more citizens will choose a medical profession and that quality improvements will follow.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 