The Role of Human Health and Economic Growth-...

The Role of Human Health and Economic Growth-A Review

Author Name : Dr. S. Pichaipillai

ABSTRACT

Good health is a crucial component of well-being. However, improvements inhealth status may be justified on purely economic grounds. It seems to be a logicalassumption that good health raises human capital levels and therefore the economicproductivity of individuals and a country`s economic growth rate. Better healthincreases workforce productivity by reducing incapacity, debility, and the number ofdays lost to sick leave, and reduces the opportunities an individual has of obtainingbetter paid work. Further, good health helps to forge improved levels of education byincreasing levels of schooling and scholastic performance. There is also an importantknock-on effect in that the resources that would otherwise be used for preventativehealth treatments are freed for alternative uses or in cushioning the effects of othernegative externalities such as poverty within the community.

Keywords: Health, Human Capital, Productivity, Global Lie, Economic Growth.