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Health Care in the Developing World

Objective Provide an overview of the medical illnesses, the status of health care, and common human resource limitations in developing countries. Understand health inequities and the social determinants of health.
Date February 4, 2010
Lecturer

Joia Mukherjee
Medical Director, Partners in Health

Lecture

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Readings

  1. World Health Organization. "The Top Ten Causes of Death: 2004." Fact sheet no. 310. Geneva, Switzerland, 2008. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
  2. Wyss, Kaspar. "An Approach to Classifying Human Resources Constraints to Attaining Health-related Millennium Development Goals." Human Resources for Health 2, no. 1 (2004).
  3. Diallo, Khassoum, Pascal Zurn, Neeru Gupta, and Mario Dal Poz. "Monitoring and Evaluation of Human Resources for Health: An International Perspective." Human Resources for Health 1, no. 1 (2003).
  4. Razzak, Junaid A., and Arthur L. Kellermann. "Emergency Medical Care in Developing Countries: Is it Worthwhile?" Bulletin of the World Health Organization 80, no. 11 (2002): 900-905.
  5. Hawkes, Corinna, and Marie Ruel. "The Links Between Agriculture and Health: An Intersectoral Opportunity to Improve the Health and Livelihoods of the Poor." Bulletin of the World Health Organization 84, no. 12 (2006): 984-990.
  6. Farmer, Paul E., Bruce Nizeye, and Sara Stulac, et al. "Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine." PLoS Medicine 4, no. 2 (2007).
  7. Feikin, Daniel R., Ly Minh Nguyen, and Kubaje Adazu, et al. "The Impact of Distance of Residence from a Peripheral Health Facility on Pediatric Health Utilisation in Rural Western Kenya." Tropical Medicine and International Health 14, no. 1 (2009): 54-61.
  8. Marmot, Michael. "Achieving Health Equity: From Root Causes To Fair Outcomes." Lancet 370, no. 9593 (2007): 1153-1163.

Discussion Questions

  1. What are the similarities and differences in medical illnesses across countries with differing income levels? Why is this important?
  2. How does the care delivery system in a country contribute to illness?
  3. How would you go about evaluating human resources a developing country?
  4. What social or environmental factors contribute to health in a developing country?