Riders For Health Kenya - Geog4B Human capacity

How increasing human capacity will help Kenya move towards achieving the MDGs.

Introduction

• Human capacity is the stock of knowledge, habits and social attributes, which create the ability to perform labour so that the economic development can occur.
• These resources are the total capacity of the people that represents a form of wealth which can be directed to accomplish the goals of the nation.
• The MDGs (Millennium development goals) are 8 international goals that were established to promote development.  They emphasise three areas, human capital, infrastructure and human rights.
• Human capital objectives include nutrition, healthcare (including child mortality, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and reproductive health) and education.

1. Increasing the number of health care workers

• This increases the workforce and so allows knowledge to be gained and skills.
• Rotating expat programme

Medical staff from LEDC to UK	Medical staff from MEDC to Kenya
Able to learn new skills that they can transfer to home country which will increase the knowledge of the locals.	Can give support and more experience to the medical staff and so increasing their knowledge and may change their usual medical habits to more effective once.
Able to use the latest technology and so learn how to deal with new unpredictable situations	Could provide new resources such as drugs to help reduce the spread of preventable diseases.
The new situations may not relate to the situation back home. For example they are unlikely to see diseases such as malaria in the UK	Might become overwhelmed with the situation as it will be nothing like the usual MEDC hospital. This could distract them and so not help the LEDC as much as planned.
A Brain drain may occur as all the brightest medical staff would leave Kenya. This would be Kenya would have to survive on a body of medical staff that are less skilled.	The issues may not be all textbook issues and so may not actually have the knowledge to give about the situations. The different circumstances mean they would have to deal with a situation differently to how they would at home.
Could be a language barrier and so medical staff might not be able to work as effectively

• 2003 - doctors per 100,000 = 15 2007 - doctors per 100,000 = 18
• By having more medical staff, people in more rural areas could be reached and so would help all the human capacity goals. Around 60% of the population live in rural locations which are hard to get to and the people live to difficult conditions. The staff could work with NGOs such as riders for health to make the care for accessible.
• More people can be treated as there are more people who can treat them. This helps treat diseases and the spread of diseases.  

2. Increased spending on education

• Increasing human capital usually means increasing spending on education. If you are improving spending on education or making education more available you are increasing the human capital. As well as improving on MDG 2, primary universal education you are increasing the long term supply of the country. By having more productive workers you are able to create more wealth in the economy and therefore increase the money needed for investment. This investment can be used to help achieve all 8 MDGs. However there is an opportunity cost of spending on education ie. Money can be spent on infrastructure. There is also a considerable time lag between when the money is invested in education and when you reap the rewards.

3. Increased wages resulting from more skills

• The increase in wages and wealth in the economy will bring people out of poverty. If you have more skills due to education or training then you are able to demand higher wages and thus bringing yourself out of poverty. This directly help with MDG number 1: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. These increased wages can spur on the multiplier effect and help bring others out of poverty.

4. Increasing skilled workers – training –education – population will gain knowledge of treating and preventing

• By providing training it increases the human capacity hugely. This is because people gain knowledge and understanding which allows them to help combat the MDGs. By increasing the amount of trained worker people can gain better incomes which would help with other goals such as eradicating extreme hunger and poverty. They would gain higher wages and so create more disposable income and have a better quality of life.
• Able to spread knowledge of prevention and awareness
• Help all three human capacity goals
• The transfer of skills to other people means that people will become more experienced and so be able to treat more situations. They could learn how to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. This would create a stronger working population as the workers would be healthier and so would also help towards other MDGs.

Conclusion

• In conclusion, the investment from the higher wealth gained from the increase in skills is the most important factor for developing and therefore achieving the MDG goals.
• Even if there was developed infrastructure it is useless if the people cannot use it effectively and to the benefit of the country therefore increasing human capacity is vital for developing.
• Health is one of the biggest barrier to developing and therefore overcoming it by improving skills and human capacity is sustainable way of growing and developing and ultimately achieving the MDGs.