Health and Development. This section will be looking into what impact the project has had on health and community safety.
Health and Development. In a UN report, it is claimed that: “Poverty is an important reason that the babies are not vaccinated, clean water and sanitation are not provided, drugs and other treatments are unavailable, and mothers die in childbirth.”70 Health has become a more central concern in development, both as a contributor to, and an indicator of, sustainable development. While health is a value in its own right, it is also a key to productivity.71 The right to health as well as the access to medicine is not merely a matter relating to individuals, it carries also economy related aspects associated with it. Economic development itself is considerably dependent upon the health level of the population, as people's productivity depends on their level of nutrition and general well being. If the society is to function properly and enjoy economic well being, a healthy population is needed as the proper functioning of the economy suffers from illness-related absenteeism.72 HIV/AIDS is a typical example to address this issue. Not only does it concern the enjoyment of the right to health, it is also a significant obstacle to the realization of the right to development. Looking at the health dimension: in 1999, 5.4 million people were newly infected with HIV, 34.3 million people were living with HIV/AIDS throughout the world and 2.8 million people had died from the virus.73 A recent report of UNAIDS illustrates the developmental dimensions of HIV/AIDS. For example, surveys note that households caring for a family member with AIDS suffer dramatic decreases of income. In education, HIV is taking its toll, first by eroding the supply of teachers who fall ill as a result of the virus, second, by health treatment eating into family education budgets, third, by adding to the pool of children who are growing up without parental support which may affect their ability to stay at school. In the agricultural sector, sickness of farm workers has resulted in a fall in agricultural output and might threaten food security. HIV is hurting business through absenteeism, lower productivity, and higher overtime costs for workers 70 United Nations reported in an April 4 Inter Press Service study 71 UN report “Health and Sustainable Development”, 4 April 2001. 72 van Xxxxxxx, Xxxxx - Health gaps and Migratory Movements, RWI Report No. 31, Xxxx 2000, p. 9;See also: Xxx X. Osita - “Right to Health as a Human Right in Africa”, The Right to Health as a Human Right. Workshop – The Hague, Xxxxx, Xxxx-Xxxx (Ed.),...
