Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Swine Flu: The Value of Life

According to the BBC

The UK has 33 million flu/Tamiflu treatments stockpiled, for a pop of 60 million.

India has 2 million treatments for a pop of c 1 Billion (.0025%)

It's true the UK is a richer country, but India spends more of GOLD imports than any other country, and is now doing Moon shots.

The inescapable conclusion, however politically incorrect, is that a some fundamental level the UK government values individual life more than the Indian Government.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What makes you think the British supply the correct baseline? Stockpiling enough antivirals to treat over half the population for a disease that is seldom fatal strikes me as a bit overzealous. Just looking within the realm of public health, there are plenty of ways India could spend money that would be a better value in the human life department. People in India still die from drinking shit-laden water.