Services—Medicine, Building, Transport

Abstract

Figures were given in chapter 2 for the average number of people per doctor in the developing countries; it was seen that the position is very much worse than in the developed countries. The actual situation is in fact worse than these figures would suggest since most doctors tend to live in the cities and towns, and very large numbers of people living in rural areas do not have access to any trained medical assistance at all. It is said that every half minute 100 children will be born in the developing world★ and of these 20 will die in the first year; of the remaining 80 some 60 will not receive any medical attention during childhood. Some disturbing figures are quoted by Harrison¹ in a recent article dealing with medical care in Colombia and Peru. He states that in the Puno area of Peru [an area of 72,382 sq km with a population of 780,000 (1972)] 33 of the 42 doctors, all of the 8 dentists, and 43 of the 44 nurses live in the three small towns. In Colombia 70 per cent of the doctors and 86 per cent of the nurses live in department capitals, and 32 per cent of the doctors live in Bogota itself. Children are particularly vulnerable and the infant mortality rate for Colombia is between 60 and 70 per 1,000 live births, compared with a figure of 18 for the U.K.