Fertility Rate Reduction in Developing Countries

Guide

It took the world millions of years before the world population reached a total of 1 billion

in 1804 (UN Population Fund). Today, that number is over 7.6 billion (UN, 2017). While the rate

of population growth has slowed in the past decades, it is still continuing to grow nonetheless.

Moreover, it is essential to recognize the differentiated growth rates among different countries of

the world. The majority of the growing world population today is due to high fertility rates in

developing nations. Women in the least developed countries are still having more than 5 children

per woman, putting significant strain on the countries’ already scarce resources (UN Department

of Economics and Social Affairs, 2009). Rapid population growth, fueled by high fertility rates,

could lead to overcrowding and hamper development in those nations. This is especially

concerning as these countries are those in need of economic development to pull their citizens

out of poverty. It is, therefore, pertinent that the General Assembly come together to propose

solutions to reduce fertility rates in developing nations.

High fertility rates in developing countries often result in increased health risks for both

the mother and child, and erode quality of life by limiting access to education, housing,

employment and other resources. It also reduces the amount of time and resources that can be

spent on each child, leading to high infant mortality rates. Many children in those countries do

not get to survive until their 5th birthday. Today’s high fertility rates will be felt for decades in

the future as those countries experience population momentum – a phenomenon where the

population will continue to grow despite declining fertility rate as more people reach

childbearing age. Such growth rates are unsustainable as the governments will have trouble

implementing economic and social policies that could benefit everyone. The UN 2030 Agenda

for Sustainable development, including goals such as no poverty and quality education, cannot

be achieved without first reducing fertility rates in developing countries.

Some of the main reasons for the persistently high fertility rates in developing countries

are a lack of family planning policies such as increased access to contraceptives, and female

access to education. Studies have shown that, “controlling for economic growth, which tends to

reduce fertility in and of itself, it has been estimated that family planning programs have been

responsible for approximately 43 percent of the decline in world fertility rates during the period

1965 to 1990” (Julie DaVanzo, David M. Adamson, 1998). Empowering local girls and women

to further their education is also effective in lowering fertility rates as they stay in school longer,

leading to them marrying later and having fewer childbearing years.

Developing countries are not the only beneficiaries of reduced fertility rates in their

countries. The rest of the world also benefits from it. By slowing or even reversing global

population growth rate, we are lessening the strain we put on the Earth. Moreover, lower fertility

rates have been proven to bring about political stability and economic prosperity in the nation.

This will no doubt boost the global economy and strengthen trade ties. Lastly, a more prosperous

and peaceful world would be more likely to facilitate cooperation among nations on

transboundary issues such as climate change and refugee crisis.

References:

DaVanzo, Julie and David M. Adamson, Family Planning in Developing Countries: An

Unfinished Success Story. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1998.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/issue_papers/IP176.html.

High birth rates hamper development in poorer countries, warns UN forum (2009, April 1). | UN

News. Retrieved from https://news.un.org/en/story/2009/04/295732-high-birth-rates-

hamper-development-poorer-countries-warns-un-forum

Roser, M. (2014, February 19). Fertility Rate. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-

rate

World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision (2017, June 21). | Multimedia Library - United

Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved from

https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/world-population-prospects-the-2017-

revision.html

World Population Trends. (2017, August 29). Retrieved from https://www.unfpa.org/world-

population-trends

Improving Access to Medical Care in Rural Locations

Guide

The Global Evidence on Inequities in Rural Health Protection Report published by The

International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2015 showed that 56% of people living in rural areas

worldwide suffer from a critical lack of access to proper healthcare (ILO, 2015). The impact of

such disparity is further compounded by the fact that countries most affected by it are also some

of the poorest countries in the world. While this issue may impact developing countries more

significantly, it also affects developed countries with a sizable rural population, with the scale

tilting negatively towards native and aboriginal groups. Nonetheless, the rural/urban health

disparity is largely ignored in the larger conversation on inequities in healthcare protection which

focuses mainly on national statistics. Improving access to medical care in rural population should

be a priority for policy makers worldwide as it will improve the nation’s social and economic

status as healthier citizens make for a more stable and productive society.

While half of the world’s population live in rural areas, only 38% of nurses and less than

a quarter of doctors worldwide are deployed to these regions. This stark deficiency of healthcare

workers is most acute in Africa and Latin America. Achieving universal health coverage has

been on the agenda for many countries and international organizations. The goal ‘Good health

and Wellbeing’ is among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as adopted by the United

Nations General Assembly. However, solutions to the issues are either being too vague or

inadequate to meet the SDG’s 2030 agenda. This is partially due to the fact that the concept of

universal health coverage lack clarity and definition for countries, particularly developing

nations, to follow. This results in countries providing healthcare services at the lowest level to

their citizens in the rural areas. While this is an understandable short-term measure as countries

figure out the logistics needed to provide better access to quality health care for all their citizens,

the end goal of this complex project should be based on the principle of equity. As the Global

Evidence on Inequities in Rural Health Protection Report posits, “a prerequisite of equity is the

development and realization of rights guaranteeing legal entitlements, for example to heath care

for all in need, independently of where people live” (Global Evidence on Inequities in Rural

Health Protection, 2015). Comprehensive healthcare coverage should be a right, not a privilege.

In recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released a list of

recommendations for countries to follow, easing pressuring on individual governments to come

up with their own comprehensive plan to provide quality healthcare to their citizens. The

recommendations include targeted health care related education in rural areas, introduce

programs to increase the potential for job satisfaction and using sufficient financial incentives as

a retention strategy. However, WHO recommendations are merely guidelines for countries. To

achieve true health equity, governments have to have an in-depth understanding of the health

care workforce and the living situation in rural areas in their own countries. When formulating a

national health plan, the broader social, economic and political factors at national and sub-

national levels should be considered to increase retention and deployment of health care workers

in rural areas.

References:

Increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention.

(2010). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/hrh/retention/guidelines/en/

New UN report finds bulk of world's rural populations excluded from healthcare access (2015,

April 27). | UN News. Retrieved from https://news.un.org/en/story/2015/04/497132-new-

un-report-finds-bulk-worlds-rural-populations-excluded-healthcare-access

SDGs. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. Retrieved from

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

Scheil-Adlung, X. (2015). Global evidence on inequities in rural health protection. Retrieved

from https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/gess/RessourcePDF.action?

ressource.ressourceId=51297

The Prevention and Treatment of Animal-Borne Illnesses

Guide

Zoonotic diseases are infections caused to humans from animals, including insects. Every

year, millions of people, particularly in the developing countries, will get sick from diseases

spread between animals and people. Some of these diseases, such as the most recent Ebola

outbreak in Western Africa, can have deadly consequences. While many other animal-borne

illnesses exist, the two most serious categories, with the potential to have the most negative

consequences, are influenza (avian and other zoonotic) and vector-borne diseases such as malaria

and dengue. Both of these categories have had major outbreaks throughout history. Due to their

highly infectious nature, it is pertinent for the General Assembly to not only consider treatment

plans but strategize to prevent them from occurring and spreading.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the 2009 H1N1 epidemic, also

known as swine influenza, took the lives of between 151,700 and 575,400 people (CDC, 2012).

These global estimates are more than 15 times higher than the number reported by the World

Health Organization (WHO), who admitted their underestimation. While many governments and

international organizations worked together to stop the spread of H1N1 worldwide, these

statistics reveal that they were insufficient. The existing infrastructure on dealing with zoonotic

influenza, including quick response teams with specialized knowledge, WHO’s Global Influenza

Surveillance and Response System and laboratory experiments on influenza vaccines, proved

ineffective in times of crisis. WHO, being the leading authority on global health matters, should

work closer with different governments so that zoonotic influenza can be identified before it

becomes an epidemic. Risk assessment and management plays a huge role in the prevention of

zoonotic influenza.

Apart from lacking preventive measures, the outbreak of such infectious diseases also

offers an insight into the differences in healthcare quality among countries. Vector-borne

diseases, spread mainly by mosquitoes and other vectors such as fleas and ticks, cause more than

700,000 deaths annually, disproportionately affecting the poor in developing countries. 92% of

the 219 million total Malaria cases occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of education, awareness

and resources such as mosquito nets have exacerbated the intensity of the disease in those

regions. WHO suggests that “poorly designed irrigation and water systems, inadequate housing,

poor waste disposal and water storage, deforestation and loss of biodiversity, all may be

contributing factors to the most common vector-borne diseases including malaria and dengue”

(WHO Integrated Vector Management). Malaria is a relatively easy disease to overcome with the

right medical treatment which unfortunately, many people in developing countries do not have

access to. 435,000 people died from Malaria in 2017. This goes to show that much work has to

be done on the part of international organizations and developed nations in aid the fight to

eradicate Malaria worldwide. Moreover, some of the more serious and deadly infectious disease

outbreaks recently such as Zika and Ebola are all vector-borne diseases. Such epidemics cross

national boundaries, thus, posing serious dangers to people worldwide. Therefore, it is important

that the General Assembly come up with a comprehensive prevention and treatment plan for

vector-borne infectious diseases.

With the onslaught of global warming changing the climate of many regions, which

would no doubt only get worse in the future, vector-borne diseases are becoming more common

worldwide. Mosquitoes, the main vector spreading diseases, can only survive in hot and humid

weather. As countries experience hotter summers, these mosquitoes are now able to inhabit in

regions they could not before. Scientists argue that increase in the average global temperature

will increase the likelihood of many vector-borne diseases in new areas. Therefore, climate

change should be a priority among the agenda of the General Assembly as a factor that will

severely affect human health and survival.

To conclude, preventing and treating animal-borne diseases require more coordination

efforts between international organizations and individual countries. Unmitigated outbreaks, as

demonstrated by past events, have deadly consequences. Moreover, reversing global warming

should be tied into this issue as well, seeing how climate affects vector-borne diseases. A crucial

element in eliminating or at least alleviating the risk of animal-borne diseases is for everyone to

be aware of such diseases. Therefore, efforts should be made to educate and bring awareness to

these diseases, especially in developing countries where the poor are disproportionately affected,

so that people know how to protect themselves and their communities.

References:

Githeko, A. K., Lindsay, S. W., Confalonieri, U. E., & Patz, J. A. (2000). Climate change and

vector-borne diseases: a regional analysis. Bulletin of the World Health

Organization, 78(9), 11–36. Retrieved from

https://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/78(9)1136.pdf

Influenza (Avian and other zoonotic). (2018, November 13). Retrieved from

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/influenza-(avian-and-other-zoonotic)

Influenza (Flu). (2012, June 25). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/pandemic-

global-estimates.htm

Vector-borne disease - Integrated vector management. (2010, December 6). Retrieved from

https://www.who.int/heli/risks/vectors/vector/en/

Vector-borne diseases. (2017, October 31). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-

sheets/detail/vector-borne-diseases

World malaria report 2018. (2018, November 19). Retrieved from

https://www.who.int/malaria/media/world-malaria-report-2018/en/