Invest in health, save lives, and boost economic growth.
The aim of Global Health 2035 launched by the African Development Bank,
along with the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, and
the Commission on Investing in Health.
The hope is to save millions of people from contagious diseases and
infant mortality over the next 20 years.
The global health report is the work of 25 experts who are calling for research and
development spending on health to be doubled to almost 4.5 billion Euros
annually.
One of the report's authors says, by 2035 we can cut the number
of preventable deaths by nearly 10 million to reach what we call global convergence.
That is people in the poorest countries having the same level of healthcare as
people in richer countries.
Two thirds of infant deaths from AIDS and tuberculosis
now occur in middle income countries in Africa, as well as China and India.
And in places like Tunisia where health care accounts for 6% of GDP, 40% of
health spending is by individuals and even then the quality of care is not good.
Tunisia's Health Minister told Euronews that they are working to change that.
He said, we must find ways to reduce the financial burden on Tunisia's households.
And so we've asked the government to double the Health Ministry's budget
to help those people who are spending much more than they can afford.
>> [FOREIGN] >> Our correspondent says
the African Development Bank is one of the authors of the Global Health 2035 report.
And like the other contributors, it believes that expenditure on public
health should be 10 or 20 times bigger, which would boost economic growth.
Now, they have to convince the politicians.
>> [FOREIGN]