Developing nations prioritise expenditure and social costs, like that for pubic health, are the first to be axed. The Human Development Report 2001 indexes the overall development by including the expenditure made on health related activities. Developing countries, specially India, come out culprits for ignoring the health of its citizens. On the other hand, the exhorbitant costs of medication, as in the case of AIDS treatment make life harder for people suffering in these countries. While governments need to commit more to health needs, an adequate regime for cheap drugs is also the need of the hour.
|Cost of cure|
costs of medication and cures prevent a healthy global
population. The case of AIDS treatment is symptomatic
|Population||7 million||30 million||10 million||23 million|
|People with HIV||17,000||2,100,000||870,000||820,000|
|Cost of treating
drugs at global
at about $12,000
a person a
year (in US $)
|204 million||25 billion||10 billion||10 billion|
as per cent of
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.