Stanford's Center for Innovation in Global Health hosted a recent seminar for Stanford students and faculty with global health-policy expert Gavin Yamey, MD, MPH. The discussion focused on the disparity in heath care between higher- and lower-income countries and how economic growth in lower-income countries could set the stage for big improvements in global health.
During the talk, Yamey explained that millions of lives could be saved if economic gains in low- and lower-middle-income countries were invested in health care. "I can't think of any other investment on the planet that could improve human welfare in such a huge way," Yamey told the audience.
As described in an online story on the event, Yamey cited Rwanda - a country that rebuilt its economy and healthcare after the 1994 genocide - as an example of how this scenario could play out elsewhere:
Over the past decade, Rwanda has experienced significant drops in mortality associated with HIV, malaria and maternal death, and achieved the greatest drop in child mortality rates in recorded history. While scholars acknowledge several factors that contributed to such an extraordinary rebound, government spending on public health, the smart use of aid, and economic growth were all integral to the equation.
"We have an extraordinary opportunity to bring down maternal, newborn and infectious disease deaths to universally low levels everywhere," Yamey said. "But for that to happen, we need an aggressive scale up of existing tools and interventions, investment in new tools and a build-up of delivery systems."
Previously: Minimum wage: More than an economic principle, a driver of health, Health care in Haiti: "At risk of regressing", Child-mortality gap narrows in developing countries and Stanford general surgeon discusses the importance of surgery in global health care
Photo, of Gavin Yamey (left) and moderator Paul Costello, courtesy of the Center for Innovation in Global Health
