The following figure demonstrates the correlation between the number of physicians per capita and life expectancy and the frequencies of malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV across different regions of the world:
The number of physicians per capita in the typical African country is anomalous with respect to the other countries' numbers. Whereas Africa has a maximum of about 100 doctors per 100,000, and the life expectancy there barely approaches 60, most other countries in the world enjoy an average life expectancy well over 60. The trend lines for every region (aside from North America, where the data set only includes the USA and "Cada") are positive, indicating a definite, positive correlation between doctors per capita and life expectancy.
Note, also, the frequency of disease across regions. Its conspicuous absence in every region except Africa suggests a minimum threshold of doctors per capita, above which disease decreases dramatically.
What makes Africa unique? Does Africa's apparent failure to approach a minimum standard reflect a global trend? In this paired-down visualization of physicians per capita vs. life expectancy, one might expect average life expectancy to grow steadily across regions with respect to number of physicians. The actual data tells a different story: across regions, there is no discernable correlation. In fact, as doctors increase in number, life expectancy appears to fall in several cases. However, we can see Africa's life expectancy trailing well behind Asia's, the second worst number, which is more similar to other regions than to Africa's. This indicates that doctors per capita alone does not dictate life expectancy, and should be considered alongside some other factor, such as standard of living, perhaps.
Does this anomaly present itself in other figures? What about health care spending per capita? Again, we see no correlation between national healthcare spending and life expectancy across regions here:
However, within each region, the correlation becomes a bit clearer.
Again, Africa is an anomaly. There is actually a negative correlation there. This can probably be attributed to a couple outliers, along with the narrow range of health care spending. In every other region, the positive correlation is clear, especially in countries where the range in health care is widest.
Data pulled from: http://stat.pugetsound.edu/hoard/projectDetails.aspx?id=5
Data source citation: World Resources Institute. 2006. EarthTrends: Environmental Information. Available at http://earthtrends.wri.org. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute. (Accessed 9/29/2009)
Does this anomaly present itself in other figures? What about health care spending per capita? Again, we see no correlation between national healthcare spending and life expectancy across regions here:
However, within each region, the correlation becomes a bit clearer.
Again, Africa is an anomaly. There is actually a negative correlation there. This can probably be attributed to a couple outliers, along with the narrow range of health care spending. In every other region, the positive correlation is clear, especially in countries where the range in health care is widest.
Data pulled from: http://stat.pugetsound.edu/hoard/projectDetails.aspx?id=5
Data source citation: World Resources Institute. 2006. EarthTrends: Environmental Information. Available at http://earthtrends.wri.org. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute. (Accessed 9/29/2009)
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