Examining Health Consequences of Economic Adjustment Policies

Summary

Marilyn Lauglo, ‘Examining the Health Consequences of Economic Adjustment Policies’, Forum for Development Studies, No. 1, 1993, pp. 75–86.

Economic adjustment policies have been perceived by many as having led to negative health consequences. This article looks at issues which arise when attempting to examine the links between structural adjustment programmes (SAP) and health. The limitations of conventional health indicators, the significance of poverty and income at the national and household levels, and the relevance of indirect indicators such as social service expenditures, education, malnutrition, water, and sanitation are all part of the complex relationship between SAPs and health although direct causal links cannot not be measurably identified. The positions taken by the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP, and NGOs and the type of information they use to support their approaches to health, development, and economic adjustment policies is briefly summarised.