Strengthen Health Systems To Reduce Premature Deaths

Low-income countries, where the world's poorest one billion live, will spend a measly $14 per person on public health care this year. So what are the smartest post-2015 targets for health? Bjorn Lomborg discusses on Time. 

There are lots of excellent proposals to address particular health challenges, such as malaria, vaccinations or infant death. But focusing on these single issues that have lots of media attention and straightforward solutions easily means forgetting about the many other ailments. Our new peer-reviewed reports suggest that we should look at strengthening the entire health system. Low-income countries, where the world’s poorest one billion live, will spend a measly $14 per person on public health care this year. Not surprisingly, spending just a little more could do a lot of good.

Premature death is defined as dying before the global average age of 70. This year, premature death will claim 9 million lives in low-income countries like Bangladesh, Uganda, and Haiti. It will claim another 19 million lives in lower middle-income countries like India, Nigeria, and Guatemala. In total, these poorest countries make up about half the world’s population."

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