ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
Type of Economic System
Throughout South Asia, each country has its own economic system and has a different way of making money. In Afghanistan, the economy is very poor. The country is still recovering from decades of conflict. Afghanistan is landlocked and is highly dependent on foreign aid. Much of the country's population suffers from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs. Bangladesh is an emerging market. There is political instability, poor infrastructure, corruption, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Even with this negative attributes to their economy, Bangladesh is surviving with their textile industry along with agriculture. Bhutan's economy is small and less developed than other surrounding countries. Their economy is based largely on hydropower, agriculture, and forestry. The rugged, mountainous landscape of Bhutan makes building roads and other infrastructure difficult and expensive. India is developing into an open-market economy. The large country's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, and a wide range of modern industries. Maldives' economy is based almost entirely on tourism. There is a fishing component as well, but has become less significant in more recent years. Maldives also has a small agriculture and manufacturing economy. Nepal is heavily dependent on remittances. Their mainstay of the economy is agriculture. Pakistan has had decades of internal political disputes. The country has had low levels of foreign investment which has led to slow growth and underdevelopment. Agriculture and textiles account for most of Pakistan's economy. Sri Lanka has been experiencing strong economic growth following the end of a 26-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Their government has been pursuing large-scale reconstruction and development projects. The main economic sectors of the country are tourism, tea export, apparel, textile, rice production and other agricultural products. South Asia as a whole has a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. This shows in several of the countries throughout the region. Although some countries are struggling, they all have a main part of their economy that ultimately helps them.
Health of Economic Systems
Throughout South Asia, the health systems are not great in comparison to the United States. A lot of the countries lack adequate facilities or education about recent medical findings. Each country in the region handles health care individually. In Afghanistan, the healthcare system has seen a huge improvement over the last couple of years. In 2002, only nine percent of the population lived within a one-hour walk to a health facility. Today, more than 57 percent of the population does. Bangladesh has a very poor health care system, although it is slowly improving. The country has one of the highest percentages of child malnutrition in the world. Also, the number of hospital beds per 10,000 people is four. Bhutan, on the other hand, prioritizes health care. The Ministry of Health has provided universal health care in Bhutan since the 1970s. In India, the private medical sector is the primary source for health care. The reason for this is poor quality of care in the public sector, as well as far distances to public sectors, long wait times, and inconvenient hours of operation. Maldives has shown incredible improvement in their health care in the last 40 years. The country's health system is custom designed for the population and geographical location. Each inhabited island in Maldives has a primary health facility. Nepal provides both public and private sector health care options. The health care system fares poorly by international standards and disease prevalence is higher in Nepal than it is in other South Asian countries. Pakistan administers its health care options mainly through the private sector. Like other countries in the region, health and sanitation infrastructure is adequate in urban areas but it's poor in rural areas. In Sri Lanka, there is free universal health care. The country scores higher than the regional average in health care. Although the health care systems in South Asia may not be similar to the United States, each country is able to have adequate or good health care systems that provide help to citizens. |