Health Indicators (SL IB Geography)

• Health indicators describe and measure world health 
• They show the differences in health and health inequality across the world
• The indicators are useful for showing rates of life expectancy and the difference in life expectancy between LICs and HICs
• Life expectancy is higher in countries where good quality healthcare, sanitation, clean water and good hygiene practices exist

Map showing global life expectancy in 2021.

Map showing global life expectancy in 2021

Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) 

• HALE is the length of time a person will live, unaffected by sickness or disease: 
  • It is how long a person lives in good health
  • It considers those years in which a person may spend in ill health or injured
• HALE calculates the average healthy years of people in an area using morbidity and mortality statistics
• The World Health Organisation analyses patterns and trends and updates the HALE figures every two years
• HALE is higher in countries with quality healthcare and health policies aimed at decreasing disease severity and chronic conditions 
• HALE is also higher in countries with high education rates
• The Sullivan Method is used to work out HALE:
  • It is calculated by: 
    • The likelihood of disability/inability to perform activities – life expectancy
• Multistate Life Expectancy Tables contribute to HALE:
  • These show how people may develop/recover from certain illnesses 
• The Americas have the highest HALE, whilst Africa has the lowest

Infant Mortality

• Infant Mortality is the number of children who die before the age of 1 (per 1000 living births)
• This can indicate the maternal health levels in a country 
• Infant mortality rates are lower in HICs and higher in LICs
• Infant deaths can be caused by malnutrition, premature birth and diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and pneumonia 
• The highest infant mortality rates are in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of southern Asia 200 years ago
  • The infant mortality rate was high as a result of poverty, disease, and famine
• The global infant mortality rate is decreasing 
• In 2020, the average across the world was 4.3%

Map showing global infant mortality rate in 2021

Map showing global infant mortality rate in 2021

Maternal Mortality

• Maternal mortality is the yearly death rate of women as a result of/exacerbated by pregnancy or childbirth (or within 42 days of a pregnancy termination) 
• The ratio of maternal mortality is calculated by: 
• Maternal deaths ÷ live births x 100,000
• Maternal mortality is higher in LICs and lower in HICs
• Higher maternal mortality rates occur in much of Subsaharan Africa, southern Asia and South America
• Historically, childbirth was incredibly dangerous
• As healthcare and hygiene have improved, maternal mortality has gone down 

Map showing global maternal mortality rates in 2020

Map showing global maternal mortality rates in 2020

Access to Sanitation 

• Access to clean/safe water and sanitation is often used to measure the general health of a population 
• Poor sanitation and dirty water result in waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea and dysentery
• A triple threat occurs from poor sanitation, unsafe water and poor hygiene 
• LICs have higher death rates caused by unsafe water, as a result of: 
• Poverty
• Poor infrastructure
• Political issues
• Climate change and natural disasters
• More deaths from unsafe water occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

Map showing the deaths attributed to unsafe water sources in 2019

Map showing the deaths attributed to unsafe water sources in 2019

Doctor/Patient ratio

• The doctor-to-patient ratio describes how many doctors there are for every 1000 people
• This shows whether people have adequate access to healthcare services, medical professionals and infrastructure like surgeries, clinics and medical education centres
• HICs tend to have a higher doctor-to-patient ratio, whereas in LICs the ratio is much lower 
• There is a much lower doctor-to-patient ratio in much of Africa, Southern Asia and parts of South America
• The highest doctor-patient ratios are mainly in European countries, with a few anomalies like Chile, Georgia, Israel and Cuba

Map showing the number of doctors per 1000 people in 2019

Map showing the number of doctors per 1000 people in 2019

Strengths and Weaknesses of Health Indicators

Health Indicator	Strengths	Weaknesses
HALE	Better than life expectancy, which measures all years in equal health Good for showing the health of the population, rather than just how long they live for Highlights specific groups e.g. gender and race have categories Regular updates of figures	It is very complicated  It doesn’t measure the disability of a person. The DALY indicator helps to support this  Some data is unreliable
Infant Mortality	It helps to indicate levels of development, e.g. female education, sanitation and maternal healthcare Useful for guiding policymakers on development	Only shows below the age of one Doesn’t show how many deaths have occurred  Only shows live births; it doesn’t include children who died during birth It doesn’t show variations within a country May not indicate socio-economic issues, but political issues instead, e.g. China's One Child Policy
Maternal mortality	Shows level of development, e.g. maternal healthcare, education for mothers	Higher figures in LICs may be due to higher birth rates It is difficult to measure as healthcare systems may be less advanced Even in developed countries, some are poorly categorised or not reported
Access to sanitation	Shows the disease prevalence in water Indicates the level of development a country may have, which can influence policy-making	May not show variations within a country Does not indicate education levels; water may be safe but knowledge about hygiene is poor Rapidly developing figures, as development improves, may need constant updates
Doctor/patient ratio	Gives information about the state of healthcare (people and infrastructure)  Supports other indicators, e.g. a higher doctor-patient ratio will result in lower infant mortality and general death rates	This is quantitative. It does not show the healthcare quality or the skills of professionals  Doesn’t indicate whether there is enough money for professional healthcare to function well Figures can differ between urban and rural areas, skewing the overall density of doctors