I was really interested in Chapter 3. Over the past two semesters I have had two classes that looked very closely to not only a health trap but the overall poverty trap. The reason I was so into this chapter is because the authors make a good point concerning the numerous preventative technologies that could slow, if not stop, the health trap as we know it. I was also surprised to learn that the cheap preventative technologies are not used to their full potential. My assessment of this chapter will look at why these solutions are not used by the poor suffering from such a poverty trap.
So my main question is why are these solutions not used?
Without reading the chapter my answer to this question would be that poor infrastructure does not make these solutions easily accessible. After reading the chapter I found that it does involve government infrastructure. While the government may be able to make the preventative treatments easily accessible, the government must have the trust of their citizens to adequately treat them. As mentioned in the chapter badly trained doctors may mistreat which will cause a resistance to the health system. So poor spending on educating doctors can lead to mistreatment which can lead to an overall loss of trust for the system. This example is explained by the government nurses in India who's poor treatment leads to patients not returning. Government spending on training is not the only way they can help. Government spending on adequate water is also essential. In  Poor Economics the authors show that the introduction of piped water along with chlorine tablets contributed heavily to the decrease in mortality rates.
Government spending is very important to break the health trap.