Reuters: WB warns for negative effects of economic crisis on health and education

In line with forecasts brought up in previous blog entries, the World Bank warns for potentially 'disastrous' effects on health and education projects in the developing world, Reuters reports. Especially the social aspect of the global economic crisis has been ignored in most African countries, Marwan Muasher, the World Bank's senior vice president for external affairs, said to Reuters.

Developing countries, initially shielded from the direct impact, are now being hurt by "second and third waves" of the financial crisis, which is coming on the heels of a damaging upward spiral of food and fuel costs, he said.
In particular, this was being felt in a drop of remittances, reduced investment in health, education and infrastructure projects and the inability to find credit, Muasher said.
"Health and education are the first areas to be dropped by governments in poor countries when budget deficits are high. This will have disastrous consequences in the long term."

All this could be prevented, according to Muasher, if 0.7% of all stimulus plans would go to the support of the school and health projects currently at risk.