Cambridge IGCSE Development Studies
Factors leading to good health It is well known that good health depends on a number of factors such as: safe water, good sanitation and hygienic living conditions an adequate amount of food and a varied diet Definition a spacious, weather-proof shelter and clean air a lifestyle that lacks stress and includes exercise Stress: a state of constant knowledge of disease prevention and access to worry that can make people ill medical care. The causes of stress are many but people who live in poverty may suffer from it because they worry all the time about how they will feed their children and how they will find the money for school fees. This stress often leads to depression and mental health problems, alcoholism and drug abuse, family tensions and breakdown.
B
State other worries that people who live in poverty may have.
Measurement of health There are many ways of measuring the health of a population. Two of the most common are Life Expectancy (LE) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). Figure 2.1 and 2.2 show the relationship between GNI per person for selected countries and the two indicators.
LE (years)
80
Definition Life expectancy: an estimate of the number of years likely to be lived at birth Infant mortality rate: the total number of infants dying before reaching their first birthday per 1000 live births in a given year
Peru
Sri Lanka
Jamaica 70
Venezuela Malaysia Brazil
Indonesia Ghana Namibia
60 50
Zambia 0
2000 4000
6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 GNI per person (US$)
Figure 2.1 The relationship between GNI per person and LE Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/