Thursday, February 08, 2007

The Health Crisis. Again.

Repeat after me - 'This Is Not Angola'. And again. Brian Cowan famously referred to the Irish Health system as Angola, and I thought it would be interesting to examine the state of the Angolan Health system. Admittedly, it's not great. However, a USAid report in 2005 noted that Angola '...is an enormously wealthy country. Angola is the world’s fourth largest producer of rough diamonds; diamonds represent 95 percent of non-oil exports, and production is expected to reach $1billion in 2005, with Angola’s diamond deposits still largely untapped (Partnership Africa Canada 2004). More importantly, Angola is the second largest oil producer in SSA and the seventh-largest supplier to the United States. Production currently stands at 1.6 million barrels per day and is rising. Oil accounts for almost half of gross domestic product (GDP) and about 75 percent of government revenue.'

So it's a rich country, who's health system is rubbish. sound familiar?

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