Quality of Governance as a Base for Health and Development1

Developing countries have a hard time getting their health situation improved. Constant reforms in health programs, international cooperation in the sector from USAID and other partners, or World Health Organization programs did not make health improve as much as expected. Although statistics in health show improvement in the last ten years, there are a large number of people who do not have access to health systems and the risk of illnesses and mortality is still elevated for marginalized citizens. There are several issues to be discussed when talking about health and development in order to improve the situation in these countries. The paper analyzes and presents different factors that affect health and that go beyond only the health sector. The analysis is done in fragile countries in South America, with special focus in Bolivia. Results show that the lack of a good quality of governance impacts negatively on health, education and therefore on development.