Halima Mwensi
Director, Public Policy Initiatives
AED Global Health, Population, & Nutrition Group

Yes‚ social development can lower unemployment‚ but it must be based on sound public policy that addresses the health of the population. A healthy community is a productive community. A healthy person is able to contribute better to social development and his or her own development at every level.

One of the biggest challenges we are facing now is malaria. It is one of the scourges of our time‚ and has been shown to affect the GDPs of developing countries. When it is not present‚ kids go to school on an almost daily basis‚ which helps mothers concentrate on what they have to do for their children rather than running backward and forward to the hospitals and clinics.

In a healthy society‚ parents have more productive lives at whatever level of employment they have because they don’t have to deal with their own illness or the illness of their loved ones.

 

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