World could eliminate health inequalities between nations by 2035

The world has the financial and technical capacity to eliminate health disparities between poor and wealthy nations within a generation, says a major new report published in the Lancet.1

For the first time, governments and donor organisations have the power to reduce preventable deaths from infections and maternal and child mortality in all countries to the levels seen in the best performing middle income countries, it says.

Prompted by the 20th anniversary of the World Bank’s 1993 world development report, which focused on investment in health, a Lancet commission of 25 leading experts on global health and economists revisited the case for boosting investment in health. The commission developed a new investment framework for low and middle income countries, showing where spending should be prioritised to achieve dramatic health gains by 2035. It …