Health is key to growth

Leading economists, including eight South Africans, have called on world leaders to spend more on health and ensure
that "essential" health services are free.

The Times, 21 September 2015

A petition calling for universal healthcare, drafted by former Harvard economics professor Lawrence Summers, was signed by 257 economists last week, ahead of a UN meeting this week. Global leaders will commit themselves to 17 goals intended to end poverty and ensure "sustainable development" by 2030 - and economists want them to prioritise health.

Those who have signed the petition include economic heavyweights Thomas Piketty and Joseph Stiglitz, who say improving the health of the most marginalised is essential to cutting poverty. Summers said universal health coverage isn't only the right thing to do - it is also the economically smart thing to do. He said the data clearly show that health is essential to eradicating extreme poverty and promoting economic growth. The petition defines universal healthcare as free or affordable essential health services but each country has to define for itself what is "essential".

UCT economist Patrizio Piraino, who signed the petition, said improved health can save money on other fronts: education, welfare and security. The petition warns that 150-million people are forced into poverty every year because of health costs. It said that by pooling funding and providing early access to health services, universal health coverage reduces reliance on out-of-pocket payments, protecting households from impoverishing financial risks.

Arguing that richer countries should support poorer ones, the petition said that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa showed that the world is "as strong as our weakest link". It said the debilitating effect of Ebola could have been mitigated by building up public health systems in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia at one third the cost of the Ebola response so far. Stellenbosch professor of agricultural economics Nick Vink, who also signed the petition, said the fact that South Africa was merely considering universal healthcare "puts us ahead of many middle-income countries".