78 million people live in poverty due to health care costs
A study by an international group of scholars in the medicine and economy sectors found that the cost of treatment and medicines forces a good part of the Asian population to survive on less than a dollar a day.
Manila (AsiaNews) International health experts have estimated that the number of Asians living in poverty is 78 million more than previously estimated "because healthcare costs in many countries far exceed the means of the average citizen".
The group of experts, composed of scholars in the medicine and economy sectors, said many countries did not provide health insurance for the population. As a consequence, the average cost of medical care climbed and added to the cost of drugs, forced millions of people to live on less than a dollar a day.
Dr Eddy van Doorslaer, an economist at Erasmus University in Rotterdam who headed the research team, said: "If you allow for direct out-of-pocket healthcare payments, World Bank statistics (that count 585 million poor among people from East Asia) increase substantially."
According to statistics of the World Bank presented in the Philippines on 18 September last, out of these 585 million, 375 are Chinese, 100 Indonesian, 40 Vietnamese, 35 Filipino and the rest are scattered across the area. Within these parameters, 41.9% of the Filipino population is classed as poor. However these statistics are less than what they were in 2000, when the rate was 47.2%.
The updated data is calculated according to the average costs of medical expenses for common treatments.
The Dutch doctor said: "We were surprised to see that such a large share of healthcare is paid for out-of-pocket."
According to the study, those best off came from Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. The situation was far worse in Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal and Vietnam. "These are all countries where more than 60% of total healthcare costs are paid out of pocket," added the doctor.
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