10 October 2011
Catastophic health expenditures
Worldwide, about 150 million people a year face catastrophic health-care costs because of direct payments such as user fees, while 100 million are driven below the poverty line. Even if they could pay, access to doctors would be a challenge. Low-income countries have ten times fewer physicians than high-income countries. Nigeria and Myanmar have about 4 physicians per 10 000, while Norway and Switzerland have 40 per 10 000. [UN- the Global Social Crisis, 2011, p.1; WHO-World Health Report 2010, p.5]