Increasing Population: A Positive or Negative for Healthcare Provision? 

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Anthony Collins, a fifth year Medical Student from UWI Mona in Kingston, Jamaica. He is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

In the last 40 years the world population has doubled to the point where planet Earth has ~8 billion inhabitants. This represents a lower mortality rate as more infants survive childhood illnesses that were once thought to be terminal. It also represents a higher birth than death rate which can be attributed to a lack of family planning as well as advanced healthcare as the average life expectancy has increased significantly. While the increasing population is a positive sign of successful healthcare provision it also has negative implications on the quality of healthcare that can be provided in the future. 

Firstly, already burdened healthcare systems may collapse under the pressure of the larger population as they may already have had inadequate resources to care for their population. This results in less availability of timely healthcare such as long wait time for appointments and a poorer prognosis as a result. In addition, disease spread would become more prevalent as a dense population is more prone to outbreaks of illnesses which causes a higher transmission rate, admission rates and eventual depletion of resources. 

Secondly, a higher burden will be placed on the infrastructure as more outlets may be needed to deal with the increased volume of patients whether first time or those for follow up. This in turn leads to suboptimal healthcare delivery if not done which affects other aspects of the economy. These include waste removal, clean water and the ability to maintain a food supply. All of these factors individually and together can result in poor health and a greater burden on healthcare leading to a poorer quality of healthcare provision. 

Lastly, while an increasing population represents better healthcare provision it also has the adverse effect of poorer healthcare provision. This can be mitigated by controlling factors such as poor family planning as well as analysing the population to plan for more appropriate methods of healthcare provision for each population. Whether the increasing population is a positive or negative for healthcare rests on all our shoulders as our collective effort will ultimately determine that. 

About the author

Anthony Collins is a fifth year Medical Student from UWI Mona in Kingston, Jamaica who’s very passionate about research, forensics and pathology. He spends his time gaining experience in those areas from clubs and their activities simulating the areas of interest. He volunteers to help those in need and the environment and serves as Executive Assistant Secretary on the UWI Mona Medical Sciences Guild Committee where he gains further personal and professional development as a student leader serving his fellow students.