Shrewd Samaritan by Bruce Wydick

Author:Bruce Wydick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2019-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION AND HEALTH?

With the little bits of Spanish she spoke, my then seven-year-old daughter Allie had made her first friend in Guatemala. Her name was Blanca, and Allie brought her to meet us. Allie explained that Blanca had a hurt on her toe. She pointed to it. I looked at the toe and saw a festering infected toenail covered in small flies. They couldn’t afford a doctor, her mother explained to us, because the family lacked the money. So we drove Blanca to the doctor, who fixed up the toe. We learned Blanca couldn’t afford other things, too, even the six dollars per month it cost to attend our middle school in the village, which is why she had to attend the public school. (And in Guatemalan public schools, teachers tend to show up about every other day.) Lack of quality health care and poor education will likely affect Blanca for the rest of her life.

The very challenges faced by Blanca—income, health, and education—make up the equally weighted components of the United Nations’ Human Development Index. They are the big three. In the last chapter we examined economic interventions. In this chapter we will look at interventions targeting education and health, along with a few other areas. Most economists view improvements in education and health as essential building blocks for economic prosperity. These are also areas in which there are opportunities for ordinary people to give their time or money.

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