The Blog Post A university student wrote this entry on her personal blog about global inequality. Last summer I volunteered at a medical clinic in rural Mal...

(a) Two contrasts between healthcare in Malawi and London: [2 marks - 1 each]

• The Malawi clinic had no running water and the nearest hospital was 90 km away, while in London three hospitals are within a 20-minute bus ride.
• Government healthcare spending is approximately $4,500 per person in the blogger's country (UK) versus around $30 per person in Malawi - a 150-fold difference.

Another acceptable answer: one doctor serves 12,000 people in Malawi, contrasting with the density of healthcare provision in London.

(b) The blogger's reasoning for why both personal action and structural change are needed: [6 marks - 2 for explaining the personal dimension, 2 for explaining the structural dimension, 2 for showing how the passage connects the two]

Personal action matters: The blogger lists individual choices that can make a difference - where we spend our money (ethical consumption, charitable giving), which campaigns we support (advocacy, fundraising), and what careers we pursue (choosing to work in development, medicine, or policy). She refuses to accept that "global inequality is just the way things are," insisting that individuals have agency and moral responsibility to act.

But personal action alone is insufficient: She identifies structural problems that no individual can solve - unfair trade agreements that disadvantage developing economies, debt burdens that drain national budgets, and pharmaceutical patent laws that keep medicines expensive in the countries that need them most. These are systemic barriers embedded in international law and economic structures. No amount of personal charity can reform a patent system or renegotiate a trade agreement.

How the passage connects the two: The spending comparison ($4,500 vs $30) illustrates why personal action cannot bridge the gap alone - the scale of inequality is so vast that individual contributions, while meaningful, are a fraction of what structural reform could achieve. The blogger's reasoning moves logically from personal observation (volunteering at the clinic), through individual responsibility (our choices matter), to systemic critique (structures must change too), concluding that both levels of action are necessary and complementary.

(c) Credibility of this blog post as a source on global healthcare inequality: [6 marks - 5-6 for evaluation covering strengths and weaknesses with reasoning; 3-4 for adequate discussion; 1-2 for basic points]

Strengths:

• First-hand experience: The blogger has directly observed conditions at a clinic in rural Malawi - no running water, one doctor for 12,000 people, the nearest hospital 90 km away. This observational evidence is difficult to fabricate and provides ground-level detail that national statistics might not capture.
• Specific figures: The spending comparison ($4,500 vs $30) and the facility details (90 km, 12,000 population) are precise enough to be independently verifiable. A reader could check these against WHO or World Bank data.
• Intellectual nuance: Rather than offering a simplistic narrative ("inequality is bad, give more aid"), the blogger acknowledges complexity - personal action is necessary but insufficient, structural problems require structural solutions. This sophistication suggests genuine engagement with the issue rather than superficial commentary.

Weaknesses:

• No editorial oversight: A personal blog has no peer review, editorial board, or fact-checking process. The writer can present information however she chooses, without accountability for accuracy or balance.
• Short-term volunteer experience: A summer volunteering trip provides snapshots, not sustained professional expertise. The blogger's understanding of Malawian healthcare is based on a brief visit, not long-term engagement. She may have seen one clinic that is unrepresentative of the national healthcare system.
• Potentially unrepresentative comparison: Comparing one rural clinic in Malawi with central London hospitals is not comparing like with like. Rural clinics in the UK also have fewer resources than London hospitals, and urban hospitals in Malawi's capital may be better equipped than the rural facility she visited. The contrast, while powerful, may exaggerate the overall gap.
• Emotional investment: The phrase "the contrast haunts me" reveals strong personal feeling, which may shape how she selects and presents information. Emotional engagement is not dishonesty, but it can lead to emphasis on the most dramatic details rather than the most representative ones.
• Approximate figures: The spending figures are described as "approximately," with no sources cited. The reader cannot verify whether $30 per person is current, whether it includes foreign aid, or whether the UK figure is total or government-only spending.