Poverty

=== Increasing the supply of basic needs ===

==== Improving technology ====
[[File:Spraying Oilseed Rape near Barton Grange - geograph.org.uk - 1842382.jpg|thumb|Spreading [[fertilizer]] on a field of [[rapeseed]] near [[Barton-upon-Humber]], England]]

Agricultural technologies such as [[nitrogen fertilizer]]s, pesticides, new seed varieties and new irrigation methods have dramatically reduced food shortages in modern times by boosting yields past previous constraints.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jan/borlaug/borlaug.htm |title=Forgotten benefactor of humanity |publisher=Theatlantic.com |access-date=24 October 2010 |date=January 1997 |archive-date=4 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104005841/http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jan/borlaug/borlaug.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Before the [[Industrial Revolution]], poverty had been mostly accepted as inevitable as economies produced little, making wealth scarce.<ref name=britannica>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473136/poverty|title=Poverty (sociology)|publisher=britannica.com|access-date=24 October 2010|archive-date=15 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315150947/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473136/poverty|url-status=live}}</ref> Geoffrey Parker wrote that "In [[Antwerp]] and [[Lyon]], two of the largest cities in [[western Europe]], by 1600 three-quarters of the total population were too poor to pay taxes, and therefore likely to need relief in times of crisis."<ref>[[Geoffrey Parker (historian)|Geoffrey Parker]] (2001). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8y8rHgucoC&pg=PA11 Europe in crisis, 1598–1648] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519014755/https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8y8rHgucoC&pg=PA11&dq&hl=en |date=19 May 2016 }}''". Wiley–Blackwell. p. 11. {{ISBN|978-0-631-22028-2}}</ref> The initial industrial revolution led to high economic growth and eliminated mass absolute poverty in what is now considered the developed world.<ref name=Britannica>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/243118/Great-Depression Great Depression] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509121741/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/243118/Great-Depression |date=9 May 2015 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> [[Mass production]] of goods in places such as rapidly industrializing China has made what were once considered luxuries, such as vehicles and computers, inexpensive and thus accessible to many who were otherwise too poor to afford them.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/world/asia/27laos.html|title=In Laos, Chinese motorcycles change lives|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 May 2011|first=Thomas|last=Fuller|date=27 December 2007|archive-date=9 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409105223/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/world/asia/27laos.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0625/p12s01-woaf.html?page=2 |title=China boosts African economies, offering a second opportunity |journal=Christian Science Monitor |date=25 June 2007 |access-date=24 October 2010 |archive-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512071516/http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0625/p12s01-woaf.html?page=2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Other than technology, advancements in sciences such as medicine help provide basic needs better. For example, [[Sri Lanka]] had a [[maternal mortality rate]] of 2% in the 1930s, higher than any nation today, but reduced it to 0.5–0.6% in the 1950s and to 0.6% in 2006 while spending less each year on [[maternal health]] because it learned what worked and what did not.<ref name="Disease Control Priorities Project">{{cite web|url=http://www.dcp2.org/main/Home.html|title=Disease Control Priorities Project|publisher=dcp2.org|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623001000/http://www.dcp2.org/main/Home.html|archive-date=23 June 2011}}</ref><ref name=post>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/02/AR2006040200813.html|title=Saving millions for just a few dollars|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=3 April 2006|access-date=21 June 2011|first=David|last=Brown|archive-date=20 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110620195857/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/02/AR2006040200813.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Knowledge on the cost effectiveness of healthcare interventions can be elusive and educational measures have been made to disseminate what works, such as the [[Copenhagen Consensus]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Prabhat|first=Jha|title=Benefits and costs of the health targets for the post-2015 development agenda|url=http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/publication/post-2015-consensus-health-assessment-jha-et-al|website=copenhageconsensus.com|publisher=Copenhagen Consensus Center|access-date=10 November 2016|archive-date=11 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111000019/http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/publication/post-2015-consensus-health-assessment-jha-et-al|url-status=live}}</ref> Cheap [[water filter]]s and promoting hand washing are some of the most cost effective health interventions and can cut [[child mortality|deaths]] from [[diarrhea]] and [[pneumonia]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8399692.stm|title=India's Tata launches water filter for rural poor|work=BBC News|date=7 December 2009|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=18 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718134728/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8399692.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7670855.stm|title=Millions mark UN hand-washing day|work=BBC News|date=15 October 2008|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=9 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009215006/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7670855.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Food fortification|Fortification]] with [[micronutrient]]s was ranked the most cost effective aid strategy by the Copenhagen Consensus.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/opinion/04kristof.html?_r=0|title=Raising the World's I.Q.|newspaper=New York Times|date=4 December 2008|access-date=5 January 2016|archive-date=17 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717055221/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/opinion/04kristof.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref> For example, [[iodised salt]] costs 2 to 3 cents per person a year while even moderate [[iodine deficiency]] in pregnancy shaves off 10 to 15 [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] points.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/health/16iodine.html?ref=todayspaper|title=In Raising the World's I.Q., the Secret's in the Salt|work=The New York Times|date=16 December 2006|access-date=5 January 2016|archive-date=17 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717055236/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/health/16iodine.html?ref=todayspaper|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== State funding ====
{{See also|Political corruption|Tax havens|Transfer mispricing|Developing countries' debt|Conditionality}}
[[File:Nigerian Surgery Table.jpg|thumb|right|Hardwood surgical tables are commonplace in rural [[Nigeria]]n clinics.]]

Certain basic needs are argued to be better provided by the state. [[Universal healthcare]] can reduce the overall cost of providing healthcare by having a single payer negotiating with healthcare providers and minimizing administrative costs.<ref name=Blumenthal>{{Citation |last1=Blumenthal |first1=David |date=2014-09-09 |title=Do Health Care Costs Fuel Economic Inequality in the United States? |url=https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2014/do-health-care-costs-fuel-economic-inequality-united-states |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=www.commonwealthfund.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Dastidar>{{cite journal |last1=Dastidar |first1=Biswanath Ghosh |last2=Suri |first2=Shailesh |last3=Nagaraja |first3=Vikranth H. |last4=Jani |first4=Anant |title=A virtual bridge to Universal Healthcare in India |journal=Communications Medicine |date=16 November 2022 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=145 |doi=10.1038/s43856-022-00211-7 |pmid=36385160 |pmc=9667848 |s2cid=253525261 |language=en |issn=2730-664X |quote=any strategy by India to haul its massive population out of poverty must necessarily include measures to provide UHC nationwide.}}</ref> It is also argued that subsidizing essential goods such as fuel is less efficient in helping the poor than providing that same money as income grants to the poor.<ref name=Jha/>

Government revenue can be diverted away from basic services by corruption.<ref name=unodc>{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2007-11-13.html|title=Anti-Corruption Climate Change: it started in Nigeria|publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|date=13 November 2007|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=22 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422134508/http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2007-11-13.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/2009/04/nigeria-the-hidden-cost-of-corruption.html|title=Nigeria: the Hidden Cost of Corruption|publisher=Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)|date=14 April 2009|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=23 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023234604/http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/2009/04/nigeria-the-hidden-cost-of-corruption.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Funds from aid and natural resources are often sent by government individuals for [[money laundering]] to overseas banks which insist on [[bank secrecy]], instead of spending on the poor.<ref name=graft>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13278728|title=Banks, graft and development|newspaper=The Economist|date=12 March 2009|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=18 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318081420/http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13278728|url-status=live}}</ref> A [[Global Witness]] report asked for more action from Western banks as they have proved capable of stanching the flow of funds linked to terrorism.<ref name=graft/>

[[Illicit financial flows|Illicit capital flight]], such as corporate [[tax avoidance]],<ref>José Antonio Ocampo and Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona (30 September 2015). [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/30/tax-avoidance-corporations-impacts-the-poor-united-nations-step-in Tax avoidance by corporations is out of control. The United Nations must step in] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510153325/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/30/tax-avoidance-corporations-impacts-the-poor-united-nations-step-in |date=10 May 2017 }}. ''The Guardian.'' Retrieved 30 September 2015.</ref> from the developing world is estimated at ten times the size of aid it receives and twice the debt service it pays,<ref>
{{Cite book
 |date         = January 2011
 |first1       = Kristina 
 |last1        = Fröberg 
 |first2       = Attiya
 |last2        = Waris
 |page         = 7 
 |title        = Bringing The Billions Back – How Africa And Europe Can End Illicit Capital Flight
 |url          = https://www.academia.edu/5072598
 |publisher    = Forum Syd <!--Forlag means publisher-->
 |location     = Stockholm
 |isbn         = 978-91-89542-59-4
 |access-date  = 13 April 2022
 |via          = Academia.edu
}}
</ref> with one estimate that most of Africa would be developed if the taxes owed were paid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/01/201211684512130367.html|title=Africa losing billions in tax evasion|work=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al-Jazeera]]|date=16 January 2012|access-date=5 January 2016|archive-date=6 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106135130/http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/01/201211684512130367.html|url-status=live}}</ref> About 60 per cent of illicit capital flight from Africa is from [[transfer mispricing]], where a [[subsidiary]] in a developing nation sells to another subsidiary or [[shell company]] in a [[tax haven]] at an artificially low price to pay less tax.<ref name=transparency>{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/06/20116188244589715.html|title='Transparency' hides Zambia's lost billions|work=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al-Jazeera]]|date=18 June 2011|access-date=26 July 2011|first=Khadija|last=Sharife|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162746/https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/06/20116188244589715.html|url-status=live}}</ref> An [[African Union]] report estimates that about 30% of sub-Saharan Africa's GDP has been moved to tax havens.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2007/jan/21/business.theobserver2|title=Western bankers and lawyers 'rob Africa of $150bn every year'|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=21 January 2007|access-date=5 July 2011|first=Nick|last=Mathiason|archive-date=9 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909233820/http://www.theguardian.com/money/2007/jan/21/business.theobserver2|url-status=live}}</ref> Solutions include corporate "country-by-country reporting" where corporations disclose activities in each country and thereby prohibit the use of tax havens where no effective economic activity occurs.<ref name=transparency/>

[[Developing countries' debt|Developing countries' debt service]] to banks and governments from richer countries can constrain government spending on the poor.<ref>The World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 2001. ''Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, Progress Report.'' Retrieved from [http://worldbank.org Worldbank.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313170039/http://www.worldbank.org/ |date=13 March 2018 }}.</ref> For example, [[Zambia]] spent 40% of its total budget to repay foreign debt, and only 7% for basic state services in 1997.<ref name="worldcentric.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcentric.org/conscious-living/third-world-debt|title=Third World Debt|publisher=worldcentric.org|access-date=27 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527054809/http://www.worldcentric.org/conscious-living/third-world-debt|archive-date=27 May 2011}}</ref> One of the proposed ways to help poor countries has been [[debt relief]]. Zambia began offering services, such as free health care even while overwhelming the health care infrastructure, because of savings that resulted from a 2005 round of debt relief.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4883062.stm|title=Zambia overwhelmed by free health care|work=BBC News|access-date=27 May 2011|date=7 April 2006|archive-date=20 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720055045/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4883062.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Since that round of debt relief, private creditors accounted for an increasing share of poor countries' debt service obligations. This complicated efforts to renegotiate easier terms for borrowers during crises such as the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] because the multiple private creditors involved say they have a fiduciary obligation to their clients such as the pension funds.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/15/world-poverty-rising-rich-nations-debt-covid-gordon-brown-child-mortality|title=World poverty rising as rich nations call in debt amid Covid, warns Gordon Brown|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 April 2021|date=15 November 2020|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501235245/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/15/world-poverty-rising-rich-nations-debt-covid-gordon-brown-child-mortality|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/21/uk-urged-take-lead-easing-debt-crisis-developing-countries-g7|title=UK urged to take lead in easing debt crisis in developing countries|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 April 2021|date=21 February 2021|archive-date=26 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426033410/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/21/uk-urged-take-lead-easing-debt-crisis-developing-countries-g7|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[World Bank]] and the [[International Monetary Fund]], as primary holders of developing countries' debt, attach [[structural adjustment]] [[Conditionality|conditionalities]] in return for loans which are generally geared toward loan repayment with [[austerity]] measures such as the elimination of state subsidies and the privatization of state services. For example, the World Bank presses poor nations to eliminate subsidies for fertilizer even while many farmers cannot afford them at market prices.<ref name=Malawi>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html|title=Ending famine simply by ignoring the experts|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 May 2011|first=Celia W.|last=Dugger|date=2 December 2007|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615032049/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Malawi]], almost 5 million of its 13 million people used to need emergency food aid but after the government changed policy and subsidies for fertilizer and seed were introduced, farmers produced record-breaking corn harvests in 2006 and 2007 as Malawi became a major food exporter.<ref name=Malawi/> A major proportion of aid from donor nations is [[tied aid|tied]], mandating that a receiving nation spend on products and expertise originating only from the donor country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=24509|title=Tied aid strangling nations, says UN|publisher=ispnews.net|access-date=27 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223203509/http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=24509|archive-date=23 December 2010}}</ref> US law requires [[food aid]] be spent on buying food at home, instead of where the hungry live, and, as a result, half of what is spent is used on transport.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/160075|title=Let them eat micronutrients|work=Newsweek|access-date=27 May 2011|date=20 September 2008|archive-date=17 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090717002543/http://www.newsweek.com/id/160075|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Distressed securities fund]]s, also known as ''vulture funds'', buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply and then sue countries for the full value of the debt plus interest which can be ten or 100 times what they paid.<ref name=vulture>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-21627406|title=Jersey law to stop 'vulture funds' comes into force|work=BBC News|access-date=1 October 2014|date=1 March 2013|archive-date=17 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017234751/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-21627406|url-status=live}}</ref> They may pursue any companies which do business with their target country to force them to pay to the fund instead.<ref name=vulture/> Considerable resources are diverted on costly court cases. For example, a court in [[Jersey]] ordered the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] to pay an American speculator $100 million in 2010.<ref name=vulture/> Now, the UK, [[Isle of Man]] and Jersey have banned such payments.<ref name=vulture/>

[[File:Familiy Planning Ethiopia (bad effects).jpg|thumb|A [[family planning]] placard in [[Ethiopia]]. It shows some negative effects of having too many children.]]

====Improving access to available basic needs====
{{main|Reverse brain drain|Human capital flight}}
Even with new products, such as better seeds, or greater volumes of them, such as industrial production, the poor still require access to these products. Improving road and transportation infrastructure helps solve this major bottleneck. In Africa, it costs more to move fertilizer from an African seaport {{convert|60|mi|km|-1|order=flip}} inland than to ship it from the United States to Africa because of sparse, low-quality roads, leading to fertilizer costs two to six times the world average.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/world/africa/31soil.html?_r=0|title=Overfarming African land is worsening Hunger Crisis|work=The New York Times|access-date=9 February 2013|first=Celia|last=Dugger|date=31 March 2006|archive-date=15 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515181849/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/world/africa/31soil.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Microfranchising]] models such as door-to-door distributors who earn commission-based income or [[Coca-Cola]]'s successful distribution system<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/reenitadas/2014/06/30/if-coca-cola-can-be-delivered-all-over-the-developing-world-why-cant-essential-medications/#17d0b7415559|title=If Coca-Cola can be Delivered All Over the Developing World, Why Can't Essential Medicine?|work=Forbes|access-date=22 June 2016|first=Reenita|last=Das|date=30 June 2014|archive-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822000311/http://www.forbes.com/sites/reenitadas/2014/06/30/if-coca-cola-can-be-delivered-all-over-the-developing-world-why-cant-essential-medications/#17d0b7415559|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/03/colalife-piggybacks-on-coke/|title=Clever Packaging: Essential Medicine Rides Coke's Distribution Into Remote Villages|work=wired.com|access-date=22 June 2016|first=Tim|last=Maly|date=27 March 2013|archive-date=20 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160620072712/http://www.wired.com/2013/03/colalife-piggybacks-on-coke|url-status=live}}</ref> are used to disseminate basic needs to remote areas for below market prices.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130531-saving-lives-the-avon-way|title=Africa's 'Avon Ladies' saving lives door-to-door|work=BBC News|access-date=31 May 2014|first=Jonathan|last=Kalan|date=3 June 2013|archive-date=21 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121094526/http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130531-saving-lives-the-avon-way|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=microfranchising>{{cite news|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/the-avon-ladies-of-africa/|title=The 'Avon Ladies' of Africa|newspaper=nytimes.com|access-date=9 February 2013|first=Tina|last=Rosenberg|date=10 October 2012|archive-date=25 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125114430/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/the-avon-ladies-of-africa/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The loss of basic needs providers emigrating from impoverished countries has a damaging effect.<ref name=Philippines>{{cite web|url=http://www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2006-05-03-voa38.html|title=Philippine Medical Brain Drain Leaves Public Health System in Crisis|publisher=voanews.com|date=3 May 2006|access-date=27 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130222516/http://www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2006-05-03-voa38.html|archive-date=30 January 2012}}</ref> As of 2004, there were more Ethiopia-trained doctors living in Chicago than in Ethiopia<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ethiopia/1475620/Out-of-Africa---health-workers-leave-in-droves.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525013213/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ethiopia/1475620/Out-of-Africa---health-workers-leave-in-droves.html|archive-date=25 May 2010|title=Out of Africa – health workers leave in droves|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 November 2004|access-date=27 May 2011|location=London|first=Adrian|last=Blomfield}}</ref> and this often leaves inadequately less skilled doctors to remain in their home countries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/08/27/what-educated-people-from-poor-countries-make-of-the-brain-drain-argument|title=What educated people from poor countries make of the "brain drain" argument|date=27 August 2018|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=5 December 2019|issn=0013-0613|archive-date=4 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204140616/https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/08/27/what-educated-people-from-poor-countries-make-of-the-brain-drain-argument|url-status=live}}</ref> Proposals to mitigate the problem include compulsory government service for graduates of public medical and nursing schools<ref name=Philippines/> and promoting [[medical tourism]] so that health care personnel have more incentive to practice in their home countries.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/05/30/inpatients-abroad/|title=Inpatients abroad|publisher=foreignpolicy.com|access-date=9 January 2016|date=30 May 2011|archive-date=18 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160118005150/http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/05/30/inpatients-abroad/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Telehealth]] is the use of [[Telecommunications|telecommunication technologies]] to deliver health services. For remotes communities in [[Alaska]], telehealth has been found to reduce travel costs alone for the state by $13 million in 2021<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-10-12/medicaid-reform-improves-access-healthcare-alaska-natives|title=Medicaid reform improves access to healthcare for Alaska Natives|website=www.alaskajournal.com|language=en|access-date=15 June 2023}}</ref> and, according to one study, reduced the life expectancy gap between whites and American Indian population in Alaska from eight to five years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sequist|first1=T|last2=Cullen|first2=T|last3= Acton|first3=K|date=2011 |title=Indian health service innovations have helped reduce health disparities affecting american Indian and alaska native people.|journal=Health Aff (Millwood)|volume=30 |issue=10|pages=1965–1973|doi=10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0630|pmid= 21976341|s2cid=31770979|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== Preventing overpopulation ====
{{main|Demographic transition|family planning}}
[[File:Total Fertility Rate Map by Country.svg|thumb|270px|Map of countries and territories by [[Total fertility rate|fertility rate]] as of 2020]]
Poverty and lack of access to birth control can lead to population increases that put pressure on local economies and access to resources, amplifying other economic inequality and creating increase poverty.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unfpa.org/resources/population-and-poverty|title=Population and poverty|website=www.unfpa.org|language=en|access-date=11 February 2019|archive-date=21 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521093951/https://www.unfpa.org/resources/population-and-poverty|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=birthrates/><ref>"[https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gevGOq7Vctd1FmJkzO3gapTqX4ZA Population growth driving climate change, poverty: experts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523114015/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gevGOq7Vctd1FmJkzO3gapTqX4ZA |date=23 May 2012 }}". [[Agence France-Presse]]. 21 September 2009.</ref> Better [[Female education|education for both men and women]], and more control of their lives, reduces population growth due to [[family planning]].<ref name=empower>World Bank. 2001. ''Engendering Development – Through Gender Equality in Right, Resources and Voice.'' New York: [[Oxford University Press]].</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crist|first1=Eileen|last2=Ripple|first2=William J.|author-link2=William J. Ripple|last3= Ehrlich|first3=Paul R.|author-link3=Paul R. Ehrlich|last4=Rees|first4=William E. |last5=Wolf|first5=Christopher |date=2022 |title=Scientists' warning on population|url=https://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/Crist2022.pdf|journal=[[Science of the Total Environment]]|volume=845 |issue=|page=157166 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157166|pmid= 35803428|bibcode=2022ScTEn.845o7166C |s2cid=250387801|quote=Alongside ambitious investment in schooling girls (and more broadly, of course, all children), priority should be given to making high-quality family-planning services available to every woman on the planet, while economic, geographic, and cultural barriers to access should be removed. The combination of institutional support to plan one's child-bearing choices and educational attainment, including enhanced opportunity for higher education for women, yields immediate fertility declines.}}</ref> According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), those who receive better education can earn money for their lives, thereby strengthening economic security.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Population and Poverty
|url=http://www.unfpa.org/resources/population-and-poverty
|year=2014
|access-date=5 January 2015
|archive-date=21 December 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221013524/http://www.unfpa.org/resources/population-and-poverty
|url-status=live
}}</ref>