Globally, women make up 70% of the workforce in the health and social care sector. However, only 25% of women occupy leadership positions. In addition, the gender pay gap in the healthcare sector is 26%, higher than the average for other sectors (16%). It is estimated that almost $160 trillion is lost globally due to gender differences in earnings between men and women.
In the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic it is easy to both remain stunned by the pandemic’s impact and long for some kind of normalcy. That is certainly true for health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, which were hit hard and are struggling to recover.
In the early 1960s, when United States healthcare expenses reached 3% of GDP, members of the U.S. Congress were so outraged that they held hearings to address such an unsustainable level of spending. The passing years have shown that 3% was not only sustainable, it was cheap. Today, healthcare spending in the United States is over 17% of GDP.
Did you know that people over 60 years old account for more than 50% of total consumer spending in several industrialized economies? This population segment is becoming a driver of employment, growth, and innovation.
Though many people are aware of it, few anticipate that this very development will soon transform the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean – a region that is still comparatively young in people’s imaginations.
Learn how the Inter-American Development Bank and the Pan American Health Organization work together to support countries to harness digital transformation for the health sector, to fight against the pandemic, and build resilient health systems.
Mesoamerica is an isthmus land sandwiched between the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, a world away from where the Gates Foundation focuses most of its attention. It is a socio-cultural region with a rich history that runs through Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and Chiapas, MX. Much of the terrain here is rugged, mountainous, and lush - difficult to navigate outside urban centers. By some measures, Mesoamerica is doing well. But national averages mask some of the highest inequality in the world, including in health.
The COVID-19 crisis has generated mental health problems among previously healthy people and has exacerbated those problems among people with existing conditions. This challenge is not new for Latin America and the Caribbean, where mental health disorders are one of the five main causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
In a previous article, we have talked about how dementia is diagnosed, its symptoms and consequences, the importance of doing it with the right professional, and the toll that it could have in family members and care partners.
Public health crises disrupt daily life and bring about changes that remain after the crisis ebbs. Did you know that tuberculosis caused a permanent shift in certain architectural trends?Or that in England, John Snow found the key to curbing cholera, and it changed how we handle wastewater? This article looks at five changes COVID-19 will leave us with.
12% of the world's smokers live in Latin America and the Caribbean. Every year, tobacco use contributes to the growth of non-communicable diseases and causes one million deaths in the region. So if tobacco is the most preventable cause of death, how can countries get their populations to stop smoking?