The nexus between a well-functioning economy and the right to health care: perspectives from Zimbabwe, with insights from South Africa and Sweden
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Date
2024
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Universty of the Western Cape
Abstract
As several human rights scholars place emphasis on mobilization of resources, this study argued that such mobilisation requires an economy that is fit for that purpose to create adequate health budgets. In theory, if an economy is poorly functioning with macroeconomic instability and poor economic growth among other things, the government’s fiscal space is shrunk and what can be mobilised from such an economy is minimal. What is also mobilised from such harsh economic conditions to form part of a country’s health budget can potentially be undermined by harsh economic conditions such as hyperinflation. Conversely, if an economy has some stability and large tax bases, a government has the potential to mobilise adequate resources and direct the same towards the health budget. With this, the study argued that a well-functioning economy is an antecedent to the realisation of the right to health care. The study defined a well-functioning economy, and set out the characteristics of the same relying on academic writings, state practice through economic policies, constitutional provisions and regional treaties. The study determined that the economy of Zimbabwe was poorly functioning, while that of South Africa was somewhat poorly-functioning, and Sweden was determined to have a somewhat well-functioning economy. Against this backdrop, an analysis of the per capita spending on health care by the governments of Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sweden was undertaken with the intention of further analysing whether such spending is adequate to meet the right to health care guaranteed expressly in the constitutions of Zimbabwe and South Africa; and impliedly from the constitution of Sweden.
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Keywords
right to health care, per capita spending, health budgets, health bills, well-functioning economy