Healthy Lifestyle a catalyst for Economic Development

 

Health is an important determinant of economic development; a healthy population means higher productivity, thus higher income per head. The importance of human capital to economic growth cannot be over emphasized because it serves as a catalyst to economic development.

Researchers consider health to be capital; therefore investments on health can lead to an increase in labour productivity,, thus increase in incomes and subsequent increase in the wellbeing of the population.

Investment in health is not only a desirable, but also an essential priority for most societies. However, our health systems face tough and complex challenges, in part derived from new pressures, such as ageing populations, growing prevalence of chronic illnesses, and intensive use of expensive yet vital health technologies.

The linkage between health and economic activity has been debated several times in the past, and this issue became even more important in the last few years. This relationship is rather complex. It has been already recognized that increased national wealth is linked with improvement of health at individual and societal level.

Furthermore, it is clear that improved health condition has an effect on economic activity and extent of economic growth. Several studies in high-, middle-, and low-income countries examined this linkage. These show that a significant shift in paradigm is observable. According to research, health was not considered as a pure by-product of economic development, but as a key factor and basic condition for economic growth. This way investing in health became a core part in many nations’ development strategies and policies.

The aforementioned is brought to you, courtesy of National Mail.

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