Lancet Report Finds Health Disparities Could be Eliminated Within a Generation
Health Policy and Management’s Dr. Margaret Kruk Is a Report Co-Author
Authors of a major new report by The Lancet, “Global Health 2035: A World Converging within a Generation," how that through a feasible investment plan by governments and donors, preventable infectious, maternal, and child deaths in all countries can be brought down to levels currently seen in the best-performing middle-income countries within a generation. Written by a group of 25 leading global health experts and economists that include the Mailman School’s Margaret E. Kruk, MD, assistant professor of Health Policy and Management, the paper by the Lancet Commission makes the case for world leaders, governments, and donors to increase investments in health to achieve global health equality.
By incorporating this “grand convergence” into the United Nations’ post-Millennium Development Goals Framework, the authors estimate that roughly 10 million lives could be saved in low-income and middle-income countries in the year 2035 alone.
In the new report, the Commission, chaired by Lawrence H. Summers, the former Secretary of Treasury and current Harvard professor, outlines a detailed investment framework for low-income and middle-income countries, showing where spending should be a priority, including through new tools to confront HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and maternal and child health conditions. The report also outlines inexpensive policies and interventions that could curb non-communicable diseases and injuries, prevent additional deaths by 2035, and raise significant new revenue for low-income and middle-income countries through taxation on harmful substances.