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Research to investigate international debt and health

Medical Action for Global Security - MEDACT - is developing a new research and advocacy project to investigate the effects of debt on the health of a single developing country - Uganda.

Uganda is the fourth poorest country in the world, when ranked by GNP. UNICEF figures show that it has the 28th highest mortality for under five-year-olds, yet its debt repayments as a proportion of export earnings is over 35 per cent, fourth highest in the world.

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) will collaborate with the Oslo-based International Peace Research Institute to commission research on the relationship between debt, war and health. The project was initiated by Dr Angela Wakhweya of the Institute of Public Health at Makerere University in Kampala.

The research will highlight comprehensive case studies in Uganda, the Philippines and Mexico, and the Uganda/MEDACT project will act as the pilot for the full project, as well as producing a methodology which will be transferable to other countries considering such research. Eventually it is hoped that such studies will enable the debt burden of a country and its impact on health to become markers of development internationally.

MEDACT has established a small steering group for the pilot project and is inviting economists, especially health economists, to join the group. Contact: MEDACT, 601 Holloway Road, London N19 4DJ. 071-272 2020.