LATIN AMERICAN BUSSINES

Comparison of the Health Industry in Latin-America presented by Robles to the present situation 

25 January 2009                                                Aljaž Ketiš and Jaako Vikman


INTRODUSTION

Robles published his book in 2003 and most of the data in the book is from the dates before 2002. Considering that five years have passed since and there are quite a lot of forecasts made in this book, now is the appropriate time to access the current situation to the one it was around the millennium.

Health Indicators and Demographic Trends

The most efficient way to compare the statistics between the data that is given in the Robles’s book and year 2007 is from a comparative table. Table includes data for the United States and three largest Latin American countries i.e. Argentina, Brazil and Mexico for most common health indicators.

* Because there were no data for 60+ group for year 2007, I chanced the data for year 2000 to 65+ group (the core message remains the same)

From this comparative table of demographic trends it is already evident that this region is registering a rapid aging of its population as it is said by Robles. In the year 2000 there was on average 6.8% (or 20,829,000 people) of 65+ aged population in the observed region. These figures have risen in the years to the year 2007. There is on average 7.4% (or 25,032,790 people) of 65+ aged population. As it is shown the whole population is aging rapidly, because the population of 65+ aged people has risen by more than 4 million in the last seven years. On this basis we can definitely agree that the issues that will become key include less-than-universal coverage by social security systems and the in-adequacy of pension and retirement income to meet the basic needs.

There is also a clear positive trend of total Expenditure on Health in % of GDP. This has risen in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico on average for 1.2 percentage points, most in Argentina by 1.7 percentage points. The correlation between expenditure on health and average life expectancy is clear in this case as it is in the book by Robles.

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HEALTH SYSTEM

Argentina

According to 2004 World Health Organization statistics, total healthcare expenditure as a percentage of GDP stood at an impressive 9.6%. At 45.4%, that is at the same level as it was cited in Robles's book. The majority of private healthcare expenditure 54.6% was borne by private insurance companies. As of 2006, there were nearly 95,000 doctors in the country. However, the number of doctors per 1,000 people was recorded at 0.4, which leaves further scope for improvement. Argentina has an impressive number of paramedical and nursing staff, who largely cater to the needs of the rural ...

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