Second Copenhagen Consensus: Diseases Assessment, Jamison Jha Bloom

Assessment Paper

By Dean T. Jamison, Prabhat Jha, and David Bloom

The working paper used by the Expert Panel is available for download here, the finalized paper has been published in Global Crises, Global Solutions: Costs and Benefits through Cambridge University Press.

Health conditions improved markedly throughout the world during most of the second half of the 20th century. Nonetheless major problems remained at the beginning of the 21st century.

Developing countries not only suffer much more than the industrialized world from diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS, but also have to face an increasing burden of heart disease, cancer and other non-communicable diseases. Targeted, cost-effective investment in low-cost interventions and capacity building could save about 4 million lives annually and a healthier population, generating additional large indirect economic benefits.

This paper identifies 7 key priority interventions in terms of their cost-effectiveness, the size of the disease burden they address and other criteria.