Global health 2035: a world converging within a generation

Abstract

countries can be reduced by 2035 through inexpensive population-based and clinical interventions.Fiscal policies are an especially promising lever for reducing this burden. Opportunities:• National governments can curb NCDs and raise signifi cant revenue by heavily taxing tobacco and other harmful substances, and they can redirect fi nances towards NCD control by reducing subsidies on items such as fossil fuels.Investment in strengthening health systems to deliver packages of costeff ective clinical interventions for NCDs and injuries is another important national opportunity.• International action should focus on provision of technical assistance on fi scal policies, regional cooperation on tobacco, and funding of population, policy, and implementation research on scaling-up of interventions for NCDs and injuries.Progressive universalism, a pathway to universal health coverage (UHC), is an effi cient way to achieve health and fi nancial protectionThe Commission endorses two pro-poor pathways to achieving UHC within a generation.In the fi rst, publicly fi nanced insurance would cover essential health-care interventions to achieve convergence and tackle NCDs and injuries.This pathway would directly benefi t the poor because they are disproportionately aff ected by these problems.The second pathway provides a larger benefi t package, funded through a range of fi nancing mechanisms, with poor people exempted from payments.Opportunities:• For national governments, progressive universalism would yield high health gains per dollar spent and poor people would gain the most in terms of health and fi nancial protection.• The international community can best support countries to implement progressive universal health coverage by fi nancing population, policy, and imple mentation research, such as on the mechanics of designing and implementing evolution of the benefi ts package as the resource envelope for public fi nance grows.Our report points to the possibility of achieving dramatic gains in global health by 2035 through a grand con vergence around infectious, child, and maternal mortality; major reductions in the incidence and consequences of NCDs and injuries; and the promise of universal health coverage.Good reasons exist to be optimistic about seeing the global health landscape utterly transformed in this way within our lifetimes.For the background papers see http://globalhealth2035.org Panel 2: Social and intersectoral determinants and consequences of better healthThree key WHO publications have advanced our understanding of these relations: • The 1999 World Health Report (WHR), the fi rst WHR issued by WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland, estimated that half of the health improvements between 1960 and 1990 in low-income and middle-income countries were from changes in two social determinants: income and education.7 The report noted that these determinants aff ect health through consequences such as poor nutrition, sanitation, and other risk factors for ill health.Nevertheless, WHR 1999 argued that the health community could have the greatest eff ect on health by focusing on the health sector, including health systems strengthening, rather than by taking action outside this sector.• The 2001 report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, chaired by Jeff rey Sachs, emphasised the importance of investment not only in the health sector but also in education, water, sanitation, and agriculture, to reduce poverty.8 By quantifying both the substantial economic consequences of better health and the costs of achieving it, the report had a hugely important role in informed advocacy for the health sector.• The Commission on Social Determinants of Health, chaired by Michael Marmot, was established by WHO in 2005 to lay out evidence for how to promote health equity through sound social and economic policies and to foster a global movement towards its achievement.9 The Commission made three broad recommendations: improve daily conditions; take "far-reaching and systematic action" to improve the distribution of resources to ensure "fair fi nancing, corporate social responsibility, gender equity and better governance"; and improve data collection for better measurement of health inequities and monitor the eff ect of interventions in improving these inequities.