Health as a Strategic Imperative

The global health agenda is vast. Three out of the eight Millennium Development Goals agreed upon by the international community are directly related to health: MDG 4, reducing child mortality, MDG 5, reducing maternal mortality, and MDG 6, reducing major diseases particularly HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Furthermore, chronic diseases are responsible for 60% of global deaths, with heart disease, cancer and obesity rapidly increasing their share of mortality and morbidity. Mental diseases and injuries further aggravate these problems. 

Health and the economy are strongly connected. Public health and medical care expenditures now account for one tenth of all global economic activity and are projected to expand further. A link between health and GDP has been shown to be mediated through enhanced workforce productivity and increased investment in healthier populations.

Health issues are complex. They involve multiple stakeholders, span across governments and private sector and impact multiple industries. They require significant investments in infrastructure, human resources and technology.  Furthermore, they are challenging to understand for non-health specialists and are often hard to communicate simply and effectively to the general public.

Due to their complexity, health issues have historically been compartmentalized with an attempt to address challenges on an individual basis. Although much good work has been done in individual initiatives targeting, for example, a particular disease, a holistic strategic approach to health is critical. Addressing health issues globally requires a strong architecture that delivers stable health systems, and a strong economic approach that prioritizes and understands links and incentives (See Exhibit 1).

Global Health Architecture