Abstract
Planetary Health Research Digest
Highlights
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) aims to stabilise the worldwide monetary system, and by doing so promote economic growth and reduce global poverty
While participation in an IMF loan programme did not in itself significantly affect health-care access or neonatal mortality, both indicators were adversely affected by the number of policy reforms included as conditions for these loans
If the IMF is to achieve its stated goals of reducing poverty, the authors conclude, it will need to make health equity central to future programmes, not just efficiency
Summary
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) aims to stabilise the worldwide monetary system, and by doing so promote economic growth and reduce global poverty. To test whether participation in IMF loan programmes affected health equity, Timon Forster (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, Germany) and co-authors analysed IMF-mandated policy reforms in 137 developing countries from 1980 to 2014. While participation in an IMF loan programme did not in itself significantly affect health-care access or neonatal mortality (the chosen metrics of health equity), both indicators were adversely affected by the number of policy reforms included as conditions for these loans. If the IMF is to achieve its stated goals of reducing poverty, the authors conclude, it will need to make health equity central to future programmes, not just efficiency. The first case, the establishment of a green corridor on the Passeig de Sant Joan, is used as an illustration of a project in which urban nature ends up being used for mainly economic benefit, with the chosen design of the greenspace being one that largely favoured café and bar owners in the area, rather than wildlife or communal social space. Nature-based solutions are not necessarily apolitical and their implementation deserves study to answer whether they are delivering on their promise of true sustainability
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