The impact of economic downturns on health and mortality

Poverty and social exclusion are important socio-economic variables which are often taken for granted while considering ill-health effects. Higher levels of poverty among socially excluded groups translate, as might be expected, into poorer levels of human development in terms of health. Marginalization of certain groups occurs in most societies including developed countries and is more pronounces in underdeveloped countries. In Indian context, caste and wealth index may be considered broadly as a proxy for social-economic status and poverty. The health status and utilization patterns give an indication of their social exclusion and an idea of the linkages between poverty and health. The linkages between caste, wealth index and some health indicators show that poverty is a complex issue which needs to be addressed with a multiple-dimensional paradigm. Even while considering poverty as the core issue, there is need to consider parameters beyond the exiting framework, keeping the complexities of plural systems and the diversity of social context to minimize the suffering from poverty and ill-health necessitates. There are a number of levels which need to be addressed if the linkages between poverty, health and MDGs are to be grappled.

Minimum basic needs of human being has extended from the food and shelter & clothing to health and education. Collectively all four basic human needs lead to the productive human resource, which in turn attain all basic human needs. Such development has changed the definition of poverty from merely a function of nutrition and price level based income to the multi dimension of human poverty; long term household economic condition, health status of the household members and education attainment. Encompassing the all dimensions of poverty, multidimensional poverty affects the overall health of the population measured in terms of life expectancy. In this paper multidimensional poverty and corresponding life expectancy has been calculated using NFHS1 (1992-93) and NFHS3 (2005-06) data for India and major states. Results show that 8% households were below poverty line in 1992-93 which reduced to 4% in 2005-06 with the corresponding life expectancy of 60 and 63 years respectively. Relative improvement in life expectancy during 1992-2006 is lowest among the persons belonging to the multidimensional poor household. Implying that highest achievement in population health, life expectancy, could be achieved through the improvement of all three dimensions health, education and economic condition of the poorest section of the society.

Demography of Saudi Arabia is little known and little explored. Aspects covered by researchers within the nation and elsewhere include size, growth, distribution and age structure. Detailed analyses on components of population growth namely fertility, mortality and migration are limited. While Saudi Arabian demography is characterized by higher levels of fertility and immigration, mortality has registered at lower level since long.
The current effort is concentrated on (i) tracking changes in death rates in the Kingdom (ii) linking death rates decline with social, economic, cultural and political transformation and (iii) tracing changes in causes of death along the transition. National level data from Government ministries will be utilized to carry out this analysis.
Mortality declined in the Kingdom at a faster pace since its formation in 1935, which has its base on changes in national per capita, GDP and natural wealth. National economic scenario influenced societal, family and individual life leading to modernized life style and health seeking behavior. Governmental efforts at building social and educational, health and public utilities paved way for improved health. The resultant increase in life expectancy replaced premature deaths with deaths caused due to senility related non-communicable disorders.

Studies suggest that in the short-term health improves during economic recessions, but whether these effects are offset by long-run negative health effects has not been established. We examine whether economic recessions and booms during early- and later-adulthood (ages 16-49) have negative long-lasting effects on health at ages 50-74. We link data on macroeconomic fluctuations for 11 countries to survey data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We estimate country-fixed effect models for several measures of physical functioning (incl. grip strength) using exogenous information about the state of the business cycle at specific age-intervals as main covariates. Results show that each additional recession experienced at any age-interval between 16 and 49 years is associated with worse health outcomes at later life. At the same time booms experienced at ages 16-49 can reduce the risk of some disability outcomes later in life. This pattern not only holds for levels of disability but also for changes of functional status at ages 50-74. Our findings suggest that long-run negative effects of less favourable economic conditions outweigh potential positive short-term effects of economic declines. They also raise important questions on the mechanisms linking macroeconomic shocks to health in the long-run.

This paper aims to explore the associations between the prevalence of some of the most burdening chronic diseases and the risk of poor self-rated health among native and immigrant population in Estonia. Our aim is to understand to what extent the contribution of selected chronic conditions to population health status has changed in two recent decades and whether the diseases that have the largest effects on poor self rated health differs between two population sub-groups. In addition, we focus on two subsequent decades – 1990s and 2000s – in order to explain the effect of rapid societal transition and more stable period on population health status.

The memory of the bombing of tourist resorts in Bali in October 2002 still leaves a scar on the well-being of families and individuals. This paper uses unique data that were specially collected to measure the impacts on individuals and households of the October 2002 bombing of Kuta Beach in Bali, Indonesia. In this paper we examine the psycho-social health impacts of the bombing. Special emphasis is placed on demographic, socio-economic characteristics of those affected and on how emotional well-being has evolved over the course of the three years after the bombing

We begin the paper with a description of the intensity of respondents’ exposure to the bombing. The next set of analyses in this paper relate direct and indirect exposure to the bombing, emotional well-being and modes of coping behaviors to the characteristics of individuals and households in order to identify the types of individuals and households that have been best and least able to mitigate the deleterious impact of the Bali bombing on emotional well-being. The charateristic included place of resident, age, gender and education.

Mental health consequences of Bali Bombing 2002 are long-lasting. PTSD symptom reported in 2003 Corelates with Mental Health Condition in 2005

In Turkey, mortality records are still inadequate for constructing representative life tables. In this study, life tables are constructed to compare life expectancy differences among different wealth groups for Turkey for males and females by using synthetic orphanhood method. This study is the first to compare life tables among different wealth groups in Turkey. The data sources that are used in the study are Turkish Demographic and Health Surveys 2003 and 2008.
The population is divided into five wealth groups. The results suggest that there are evident differences among wealth groups regarding life expectancy at birth. For females there are upto four years of difference in life expectancy at birth between females at lowest and highest wealth groups. For males the difference is about five years.

Background: Inequalities in disabilities act as a brake on economic growth and development. As there is no direct mortality associated with disabilities, they remain at the bottom of the government’s priority list. So the studies related to disability in India are limited. Moreover, none of the studies used the inequality measures to understand the inequality in occurrence of these disabilities.
Objective: We use data from India Human Development Survey conducted in 2004-05 to test the hypotheses: Occurrence of different kinds of disabilities is not associated with economic condition of the population.
Methods: The present study had measured four outcome variables: locomotor disability, visual impairment, hearing impairment and speech disability. Persons who were unable to perform their chores or performed with difficulty were taken as disable.
Bivariate analyses rich-poor ratio, Concentration curves, adjusted concentration indices, dominance test were used to understand economic inequality. Binary logistic regression models and Wald test were also used.
Results: Findings of the study reject our hypothesis. Findings suggest huge socio-economic inequalities in the occurrence of different kinds of disability. Poorer sections of the society have the disproportionately higher prevalence of all types of disability.

Infant and child mortality has been long reflections of community health status and hence the level of development and welfare. During the past two decades, different geographical parts of Sudan were arguing the inequality of services distributions and some of them embarked on military movements. This study aimed to estimate level of infant and children less than five mortality in different Sudanese states and to assess whether these rates were associated with level of development and armed conflicts.
The paper is based on the (SHHS), which was conducted in 2006 and covered all states of Sudan even the troubled of it. The sample for the (SHHS) was designed to provide estimates on MDG’s indicators. From each state a sample of 1,000 households was drawn for the survey. Also additional secondary data on the economic growth were utilized from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The data were analyzed statistically using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The analysis involved frequency distributions and correlations; Chi-square test for independence as well as logistic regression were conducted.
The results showed that there a is appositive significant correlation between under-five mortality and the level of development in the Sudanese States. The estimates of neonatal, infant and under-5 mortality rates we

Tanzania is among the countries which transitioned from a centrally planned economy to an open-market system beginning in the late 1980s. The manner by which transitions to open markets affect social equality and equity remains a contentious topic. This paper uses demographic data on population health trends in Tanzania to shed light on the issue of liberalization and social inequality. The preliminary analysis, show a differential decline in infant mortality across regions with varying degrees of contact with liberalization policy, which is measured by concentration of villagization and intensity of privatization in a given region. The continuing analysis will use census data from 1988 and 2002, which is more representative at the district-level, to test further the results and conclusions drawn from the current analysis, which is based on Demographic and health Surveys (DHS).