MAP PROJECT OFFICE AND MODEM WORKS

TEXT BY CLARE DOWDY

When faced with a health concern, many of us can simply pick up the phone to call the doctor or head to a nearby hospital. While this is a reality for a sizable portion of the global population, digging deeper into the statistics reveals that for a large number of people worldwide, such access is more of a fantasy than a reality.

And yet, this is what our global institutions are striving for. They call it ‘universal healthcare coverage’, which the World Health Organisation defines as “all people having access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship”.

The nations of the world established universal healthcare coverage as a target in 2015, when they adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal. However, despite these good intentions, we’re not making sufficient progress.

And this is in spite of the great strides in medical science—just think of the lightning speed at which Covid vaccines were developed. Yes, advances in earlier or more accurate diagnoses, better treatments, and even cures make headlines practically every week. Yet, a vast number of people around the world still struggle to access healthcare.

Accessibility issues manifest in two key ways: the cost of care and the ability to see a clinician. In fact, one or both of these issues affect individuals differently depending on their location around the world. 

In many places, patients face steep costs for treatment. In the United States, the PwC Health Research Institute forecasts a 7.0% increase in medical costs in 2024. Consider a retiree in the poverty-stricken Appalachian Mountains. Without personal transportation and health insurance, he may encounter difficulties in spotting early symptoms of diabetes.

In developing countries, the situation is even worse. According to the World Bank Group, people spend an astounding half a trillion dollars out of their own pockets on health services each year. This amounts to over $80 per person and disproportionately impacts the poor. Take, for instance, a woman and her daughter in Sierra Leone. Access to healthcare for them is a significant challenge. The nearest district hospital may be a considerable distance away, and financial constraints, such as surviving on a daily income of roughly $2, severely limit their options for transportation. Physical frailty due to illness further complicates their ability to seek medical attention. Under these conditions, the risk of their health deterioration escalates, underscoring the broader issue of healthcare accessibility.

Similarly, workforce shortages affect both affluent and impoverished nations alike. According to PwC, the challenges facing the U.S. are “compounded by clinical workforce shortages”. Even countries with some form of a national health service grapple with issues of accessibility, in part caused by a lack of healthcare professionals. As the Kings Fund puts it: “The UK’s health and care system is under intense pressure, with rising waiting times, persistent workforce shortages and patients struggling to access the care they need.”

High-income OECD countries, like the U.S., Canada and the UK, have around 3,000 doctors per million people, according to World Atlas. Any workforce shortages in wealthy nations seem insignificant when compared to the availability of medical professionals in the world’s poorest countries. There are 25 countries with 100 or fewer physicians per million people—not nearly enough doctors to go round. For example, a family in Liberia faces an uphill battle to find a doctor, as there are only ten for every million people—the lowest availability on record.

Healthcare is increasingly becoming a privilege that only benefits the wealthy, who can afford it, and the fortunate, who live near well-staffed, affordable facilities. For the vast majority of the global population, the harsh reality often means suffering from untreated pain or dying of a curable condition.