Written by: Sarah Le
Edited by: Akanksha Nayak
Countries around the world have been dealing with different challenges in improving the well-being of their people. With distinct priorities when it comes to health services, world leaders also implement different solutions throughout their nations. These include: the increase in health worker supply, prevention of unintended pregnancies, combat against infectious diseases, tobacco and alcohol distribution control, etc.
This article aims to provide 3 case studies that demonstrate the variety in focus and tactics regarding improving the health care system. These countries represent the classifications that they belong to; either developed, developing or undeveloped countries.
Case study 1: Sweden
Sweden with their ‘Leaving No One Behind’ principle has been doing perfectly well in terms of keeping up with the 2030 Goals. They acknowledge the importance of partnerships between different sectors and industries, making them explicitly focusing on negotiations to engage every individual into taking part in the Sustainable Goals. In fact, lots of actors have used their voice and reputations to raise awareness in health issues, alongside with government workers and private companies.
Moreover, Swedish government had and still continues to introduce new policies to emphasize on providing access to mental and physical health services, regardless of their background. For instance, in 2015, the Commission of Equity in Health was appointed to address disparity issues in health. LGBTQ+ communities, as a result, have responded to have better attention.
On the other hand, Sweden also make investment to strengthen women’s health due to the fact that there are differences in treatment techniques between different sex.
Thanks to all of the effort, Sweden has become the 1st country in the world to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target. From 2005 to 2015, the total consumption of the country also decreased by 11%. In other words, it is clear that Sweden has been doing excellent in keeping up with the third goal of Good Health and Well-Being.
Case study 2: Brazil
Brazil is the second example that Reach For The Stars wants to take a look at. It is classified as a developing country. Regarding the healthcare system, most Brazillian rely completely on one governmental organization, called the Unified Health System of Brazil (SUS). SUS provides public health services for over 70% of the population. Because of that, it is fairly simple for the government to make changes and improvements for their health care system.
An example could be the More Doctors Program, introduced back in 2013 with the aim to reduce the misallocation of health professionals. The country wanted to expand the participation of Brazilian professionals and distribute more doctors to rural areas. Also, they aimed to “replace 4 thousand physicians from partner countries with Brazilians in three years”. Even though many parts of the target were not completely achieved, this program had successfully provided the nation with more supply in the healthcare workforce as well as increased the access to primary health care services in some under-developing areas.
Another solution that the Brazilian government proposed to achieve the United Nations’ 3rd Goal was making investment in health facilities. $37.35 million was used to purchase 3.5 million rapid tests to identify Zika Virus in 2016. The test targets pregnant women and infants as well as others with symptoms of diseases.
In conclusion, Brazil had proven many improvements in their health care services system throughout the past decades. However, in order to achieve the 3rd Goal by 2030, Brazilians have to work harder together to tackle health issues more effectively in the upcoming years.
Case study 3: South Sudan
For the representative of the underdeveloped countries, South Sudan was chosen to analyze. According to the United Nations Development Programme, 75% of people do not have access to health services while 43% of the population are severely food insecure. Many factors have contributed to these issues; including the unfavorable weather conditions, post-war effects, western overexploitation, low accessity to education, etc.
First of all, South Sudan is considered to have many advantages in terms of natural resources. Gold, silver, oil alongside a diverse range of agricultural products like rice and beans have been found in many areas of South Sudan. The country also has many potential trading routes to other parts of the world. Ironically, the people of South Sudan have not yet benefited from any of these. This is mainly due to the 309% of inflation, and 85% of the working class is engaged in non-wage work. The only way to help improve the well-being of South Sudan people while increasing the quality of their life is through education. By providing access to basic knowledge concepts for the people, the government of South Sudan would then be able to increase the health of their people.
In addition, the longest river in the world, Nile River, flows through many parts of South Sudan. This might seem like a great place for the people, however, in reality, this river is where mosquitoes come for breeding. As a result, the rainy season in South Sudan, from April to October, is also considered as the Malaria season. With no access to health care services, Malaria then becomes one of the leading causes of death, resulting in the high infant mortality rate of 62.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in the country. In order to improve access to health care in South Sudan, UNICEF - World Bank partnership was formed. This provides the country with more health care services, successfully improving detection, prevention and treatment of malaria in South Sudan.
In summary, South Sudan still has a long way to reach the United Nations’ 3rd targets of “Good Health and Well-Being” by 2030. However, it is not impossible as long as we - individuals and global future leaders acknowledge our roles in helping these countries.
To briefly summarize, 3 study cases of Sweden, Brazil and South Sudan had been used to demonstrate the progress of different countries around the world in achieving the third goal “Good Health and Well-Being” of the United Nations. It is clear that many nations across the globe still require more effort and union in order to successfully complete the targets by 2030.
And in order to help boost the progress a bit faster, we, as individuals, could help by doing a number of simple tasks. Specific ways to help could be found in Reach For The Stars the next few blogs so be sure to check them out!
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