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This is the reality of “private care” for many poor people
Put public first, and provide healthcare for all
Good health care is a fundamental right, not a luxury. But in poor countries, the growth of private sector provision means healthcare is often either too expensive, or such low quality it risks lives.
Despite this rich countries and institutions are actually pushing for more aid money – that's the cash which helps pay for things like hospitals, drugs and nurses in poor countries – to be spent on private services.
This must change. Only poor countries with strong public health services have succeeded in making the kind of progress needed to provide health care for all. Oxfam is calling for rich countries and international organizations such as the World Bank, to put “public first” and solidly support public health care to save lives.
Sign the pledge to show your support for strengthening health services that provide free quality healthcare for all.
Primary healthcare services in developing countries – photo gallery
Aid for primary healthcare services in poor countries has almost halved in the last decade. Oxfam warns that cuts in public health services are condemning hundreds of millions of people to early preventable death or needless suffering – and a massive scale up in public health spending is required. Take a look at our photo gallery:
Credit: Sorrotie BandaZambia: A drug store in Mandevu township, about five kilometers from the center of Lusaka, which has a population of over 400,000 people.
Credit: Sorrotie BandaZambia: “I started this business in 2001 after a six-month course in Pharmacy. This is a profitable business because people in this community believe in self-medication rather than going to clinics."
Credit: Karen Robinson/OxfamTakijistan: Davlatbi is a trained nurse and works in the village health center. "We have lots of problems with typhoid and malaria. Poor families cannnot afford medicines and they have to rely on middlemen selling them."
Credit: Ami Vitale/OxfamKenya: Prescribing medicines is often inconsistent and erratic. This is a major problem in government health services in East Africa, but is worse in the private pharmacies and clinics, which often have no trained staff.
Credit: Ami Vitale/OxfamKenya: Rural incomes here have suffered because of the collapse of coffee prices. Farmers are less able to pay for heathcare.
Credit: Ranjan RahiThe public health sector in India is chronically under-funded. For example, due to a lack of investment, scores of patients are forced to lie on the floor as this public hospital currently only has 6 beds.
Credit: Ranjan RahiPeople waiting to get registered at Motihari District Government Hospital in East Champaran, Bihar. With so few doctors employed to work in the public sector of healthcare in India, this scene is typical.
Credit: Ranjan RahiTwo months ago Gopal Singh got a small boil on his left foot. Without knowing he was diabetic, the “private doctor” in his village operated on him. The wound has been worsening ever since. "I cannot afford to go to private hospitals."
Credit: Ranjan RahiThis is the reality of “private care” for many poor people. In India, 82% of outpatient care is provided by the private sector. Half of the mothers in India receive no medical assistance during childbirth.