Proceedings of the 13th Meeting of the
COMCEC Poverty Alleviation Working Group
5
As for under 5 mortality rate, SDG is 25 deaths per 1000 live births by 2030. High income and upper
middle income OIC countries have already met the target with child mortality rates equal to 9.4 and
21.6 per 1000 live births. On the other hand, while recording significant reduction, low income and
lower middle income OIC countries still lag behind the targets and the world average with under
five child mortality rates equal to 79.3 and 50.3 per 1000 live births. Dr. AŞIK suggested that the
improvements across OIC members are encouraging, however, current trends point out that more
efforts are clearly needed to improve the health outcomes in low income and lower middle income
OIC countries.
Questions and Comments:
Question: Among the indicators reflecting the poverty situation in the countries, which of the
indicators - monetary or non-monetary poverty- are more important?
Answer: Dr. AŞIK stated that monetary poverty indicator is insufficient to understand the dynamics
in the member countries. Non-monetary poverty indicators such as multidimensional poverty and
global hunger index should also be checked to properly grasp the poverty situation in a country.
3. Access to Health Services in the Islamic Countries
3.1. Overview of Access to Health Services in the World and the OIC
Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, Consultant at Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, presented
the findings of the research study titled “Access to Health Services in the Islamic Countries”.
In his first presentation, Dr. Ahmed mentioned about the concepts of access to health and relevant
situation on global, OIC and non OIC member state scale. The session started by explaining that
although there have been impressive progress in health worldwide, it varies by regions and by
extension other socioeconomic determinants like age, sex, education, income status etc. Dr. Ahmed
then continued to explain why health is important for the overall development of people’s
wellbeing. He explains that health forms the basis of social justice, one of the human rights and is
intimately related to economic development through the health and poverty cycle. The cycle
demonstrates two dimensions that lead to poor health outcomes for poor people: context and
access (to health). The context is related to poor living conditions, housing, sanitation and hygiene,
etc. From the health perspective, context is a risk factor for the health of the poor. Access to health
services is often restricted for the poor; either due to unavailability of services or lack of purchasing
power – especially if services are offered by the private, for-profit sector. Also, facilities accessed
by the poor are often overcrowded and understaffed. The lack of access to health service for the
poor results in lack of utilization of health services, and lack of knowledge of good practices, which
is a direct cause of poor health. On the other hand, poor health leads to lack of productivity and
decreased income which risk causing some people to either fall into poverty or to further go down
the poverty ladder. This explains why access to health a service is more than just and is a basic
component of one’s wellbeing.
Dr. Ahmed then discussed the concept of health disparity and how various social determinants like
age, sex, education, income status etc. helps to understand the unequal and inequitable