Health & Wellbeing
Introduction
How can NGOs stay ahead of the game?
It has long been clear that many non-state actors have more influence on international policymaking than a great many sovereign states. No one doubts the impact that major multinational corporations and terrorist organizations can have, for better or worse. But the role of a number of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) has been more significant than is generally recognized, and what makes the best of them tick is worth exploring.
According to current estimates, there are some 40,000 NGOs operating internationally, with the overwhelming majority focusing primarily on health,...
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July 24, 2013
Prosperity or health is a false choice for South-East Asia
In South-East Asia today, most countries face a dilemma: Should limited resources be used to combat the rapid growth of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that take such a terrible toll on human life and economic development – or should they go to expanded efforts to reduce the debilitating effects of poverty?
Some consider this an either/or proposition, but that’s a false choice. The truth is, one can’t be achieved without the other. Economic vitality helps create and support innovative and effective healthcare systems but no country can succeed economically without a healthy workforce. ...
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June 4, 2013
How to reinvent Africa’s sickly health systems
Given the billions of aid dollars spent on improving the health systems of Africa, it may surprise you to learn that the majority of Africans still turn to the private sector for their healthcare. Not because the private sector provides great service or cheaper prices. But rather, for many, it remains the only option. Public health centres are all too often understaffed and short on important supplies. The private sector may be filling the gap, but it is not solving the problem. Private healthcare providers are plagued by excessive fragmentation and little to no oversight, resulting in high...
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May 9, 2013
The full value of childhood vaccines
If you want to know the value of vaccines, just spend some time in a clinic in Africa. The faces of the mothers and fathers say it all: vaccines prevent illness and save lives.
But what these parents probably do not realize is that the story does not end there. As they leave the clinic and head home, they have already taken steps to improve not just their child’s health, but also his or her educational prospects and long-term future. What’s more, they will have also helped to improve their own lives and enhance the economic prospects of their wider community.
The reasons are simple. We know...
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April 21, 2013
Know your numbers, eat less salt
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices will present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Emeritus Mirta Roses Periago on two small but radical steps to safeguard your health.
High blood pressure – the “silent killer” – is also quite democratic. In only 16 countries in the world are less than 35% of those aged over 25 suffering from high blood pressure, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. Hypertension (HTA) increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke and kidney...
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April 5, 2013
Why business has a stake in healthy living
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. In this post, Norbert Hültenschmidt on how companies can contribute to public health
Healthy living has moved from the Style section of newspapers and magazines to front page news. Why? Because over half of all deaths today result from largely preventable, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Healthy living can save lives and money.
As described in...
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April 5, 2013
Do we love our cars more than ourselves?
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April.Shivender Singh, Executive Vice-Chairman of Fortis Healthcare Limited, on preventive health measures
We have all heard the old adage that “two wrongs don’t make a right”. But sometimes, two rights do make a wrong.
We all know that advancements in the medical science space in the 20th century have resulted in a significant jump in life expectancy. This is surely great news for humanity. And, with...
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April 5, 2013
Taking the next leap forward in health
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Robert Greenhill on the future of health ahead of World Health Day
We are living in an age of extraordinary progress in health. While the world is having great difficulty coming together on common objectives – from trade to geopolitics – health is a rare bright spot.
Life expectancy has more than doubled over the past century. Today, 4 million children live every year who would have died before...
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April 4, 2013
Let’s stop ignoring this needless suffering
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Sania Nishtar of Heartfile says it’s time to end the shocking neglect of high blood pressure.
In most populations, more than 40% of adults aged 25 and over suffer from high blood pressure, a disease which, if left untreated, has unparalleled potential to kill and disable, inflict enormous suffering and significantly undermine quality of life.
Millions of people across the world – a...
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April 4, 2013
Beware the invisible killer
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Julie Louise Gerberding of Merck Vaccines says that we need to focus on the lethal threat of high blood pressure.
The global community is riveted when pandemics – outbreaks that occur worldwide, cross international boundaries and affect large numbers of people – emerge. Sadly, our attention rarely focuses on diseases of equal or greater consequence that also occur worldwide with...
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April 4, 2013
Bushmeat and the next pandemic
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Nathan Wolfe warns that hunting wild animals could allow another HIV-like virus to jump across to humans.
When we think about the beginnings of the AIDS pandemic, we tend to think back to the 1980s. And while that is the decade when we first became aware of the crisis, in fact it started much earlier. HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, made its first appearance about 100 years ago in a human in...
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April 4, 2013
How to take the pressure off health systems
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices will present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Geoff Martha of Medtronic argues that we must work together to tackle chronic conditions like heart disease.
High blood pressure (HBP) is a serious health condition and an important indicator for two of the world’s most deadly chronic diseases – diabetes and heart disease. With 1 billion people around the world affected by HBP, this and other chronic conditions have brought many healthcare...
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April 3, 2013
We’ve turned the whole world into a couch
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Lisa MacCallum Carter on why we need to bring movement back into our everyday lives.
Escalators, cars, drive-thrus, desk jobs. In designing the modern world, it seems we unconsciously took out the act of movement to the extent that it’s now “normal” not to move. As a result, physical inactivity costs billions each year and is destroying our quality of life – it is now more deadly than smoking....
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April 3, 2013
Taking care of the carers
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices will present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. In the following post, we must stop treating the people who look after our parents or children as second class citizens, says Ai-Jen Poo.
My grandmother is 87 and lives in a retirement community in California. She loves to read and watch Chinese soap operas. She goes to church twice a week and likes to play the game Mahjong. She lives a vibrant and fulfilling life.
So, do you want to know...
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April 3, 2013
Biting back at obesity
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices will present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. Karen Watson of the Pan American Health Organization says there is some evidence we’re improving our diets.
The news on salt and sugar-sweetened beverages presented at the 2013 meeting of the American Heart Association was disconcerting to anyone paying attention to the message. But paying attention to the message is the point, and there is some evidence that consumers are listening...
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April 2, 2013
Cash for carrots could save lives
In a series of blog posts curated by the World Economic Forum’s Health Team, a number of leading voices will present their perspectives on health and healthcare in the run-up to World Health Day on 7 April. In the following post, Derek Yach on why we need to find the right incentives to encourage healthy living and fight heart disease.
Over the past few months new data on the global burden of disease and associated risks has been published. The main messages are that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for 63.5% of the 53 million deaths worldwide in 2010 and that heart disease and...
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April 2, 2013
Three ways to beat high blood pressure
Olivier Raynaud explains how a simple change of mindset could save lives when it comes to heart disease
World Health Day on Sunday is dedicated this year to high blood pressure (also known as hypertension), a chronic disease that is taking a heavy toll on people’s lives and on healthcare systems.
High blood pressure affects more than one adult in three, and leads to severe health consequences and to more than 9 million deaths from cardiovascular diseases a year globally. Although these numbers are frightening, it seems they have not been enough to trigger the significant changes needed to...
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April 2, 2013
Can empathy scale technology?
Jonathan Jackson argues that empathy is necessary to make technology effective.
I have been fortunate enough to have been in the emerging field of mobile health well before there was much mobile to hype about. At Dimagi, our first “mobile” project was on a personal digital assistant that had no wireless capability. Over the years I have seen mobile technology help save lives. But I’ve also seen mobile technology employed in nearly identical situations, do absolutely nothing, or worse, make healthcare delivery more cumbersome.
We have certainly had deployments that fit in both categories. As I...
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March 18, 2013
Exploring the frontiers of recovery
In 2010, a fall from a second story window nearly killed me. I broke my back and the damage to my spinal cord left me paralysed from the waist down. From the moment I hit the ground, I joined a global community of people that, according to the experts, have no hope of recovery from complete spinal cord injury. But, what if the experts are wrong?
Only 60 years ago, patients with a spinal cord injury had an 80% chance of being dead within a year. The 20% who survived were likely to be institutionalized. But, in 1940s in England, Doctor Guttman wasn’t prepared to accept the status quo and...
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March 12, 2013
The power of chance and collaboration
In the early 1980s, I began my career as a tradesman with the goal of working my way up South Africa’s business sector. By the mid-1990s, I joined South Africa’s Road Transport Industry Education and Training Board as their Chief Executive Officer.
As my team worked to develop, educate and recruit new heavy vehicle drivers into the South Africa road freight industry a pressing issue was coming to light reaping havoc on individuals, communities, and employers across the country: HIV.
Unaware of the already severe HIV and AIDS epidemic in South Africa, I met with South Africa’s Minister of...
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March 5, 2013
Biotechnology: Best line of defence against disease?
Andrew Zarur predicts that through biotechnology we’ll be able to cure diseases within months
In the 14th century almost one third of the world’s population was wiped out in 53 years by the infamous “Black Death.” Bubonic plague, the medical name of the Black Death, originated in China around 1347. From there it spread throughout Europe, where it claimed almost 100 million lives, representing somewhere between 40% and 60% of the continent’s population. Europe was devastated not only economically but also socially, morally and politically for more than a century.
It would be unthinkable...
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February 28, 2013
Biotechnology at work: Rapid diagnostics
Andrey Zarur, Vice-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Biotechnology, explains how biotechnology can fight against microscopic threats
Imagine this scenario: a child arrives at a hospital emergency room with a fever of 104°F, dehydrated and exhausted. She has been throwing up all night and her parents have been unable to bring down the fever. This scene is familiar in every ER around the world, from the most developed countries to villages in most remote corners of the planet. And yet, a simple twist in this story would transform it from a long nervous night for...
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February 25, 2013
How could biotechnology improve your life?
Experts on the World Economic Forum’s Council on Biotechnology have selected 10 developments which they believe could help not only meet the rapidly growing demand for energy, food and healthcare, but also increase productivity and create new jobs, should issues such as regulatory certainty, public perception and investment be tackled successfully. In this blog post, the council members make their case for each of these technologies and highlight their potential benefits:
1. Bioproduction of sustainable chemicals, energy and other materials
Over the past 100 years, humans have depleted...
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February 25, 2013
The future of healthy living
At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2013 there was anticipation mixed with some trepidation about the level of fortitude leaders would bring to the essential task of reducing chronic illness and promoting healthy living. Certainly, the motivation is there – 36 million lives lost every year and millions more disabled or compromised by chronic illness – but there is work to do to turn talk into action.
Despite excellent progress over the past year in drafting the Healthy Living Charter, obstacles such as short-termism, self-interest and fear of transparency have been slowing the...
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February 5, 2013
We know what’s good for us, we just don’t do it
The pressures of modern life too often make it difficult to take the right health choices, writes Pieter Nota.
Across the world, people want to maintain and improve their health and well-being, and that of their family and friends. In recent research carried out by Philips, looking after the health of family consistently ranks as one of the top five priorities in people’s lives, regardless of their age or the country they live in.
Health trends in many countries, highlighted in reports like this recently published landmark research, show the importance of making positive changes in our daily...
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January 25, 2013
How do we immunize a quarter billion children by 2015?
There is a growing and welcome awareness that the world’s biggest health challenges have profound economic implications as well.
Illnesses such as pneumonia, measles and meningitis take an enormous personal toll on people in the world’s poorest countries. I have seen this first-hand in hospitals and rural clinics from Tanzania to Haiti.
There’s also a growing awareness that one of the surest ways to prevent this is through vaccines, which have proven to be one of the most cost-effective tools in global healthcare.
This is important information for the private sector. As global business...
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January 25, 2013
Getting connected to better health
Everyday technologies like the Internet and cell phones make new ways of delivering healthcare possible, says Deborah DiSanzo is Chief Executive Officer of Philips Healthcare
Imagine that your son develops a cough, but there’s no hospital or clinic within your community that can identify if his respiratory condition is serious. Imagine your wife is pregnant and the closest clinic is a four-hour walk away. Imagine your father is in an intensive care unit where there are too few staff and no specialists to attend to his illness.
At this year’s World Economic Forum, discussions on access to...
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January 25, 2013
Bridging the gap on healthy living
Mark Bertolini addresses the future of healthcare
Last year, 2012, was an exciting and important one for healthcare around the world and at the World Economic Forum. It was the year of an important presidential election in the US with healthcare at its heart, acting as a referendum on America’s vision of universal healthcare. The issue of healthcare reached other heights around the world, with China declaring universal coverage, joining a group of more than 35 countries that have made universal coverage the new norm for their national health system and citizens. At the end of the year, the...
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January 25, 2013
Why healthcare must change
Mary Tolan, CEO of Accretive Health Inc, on why the medicine of tomorrow must make better use of data.
Health is a cornerstone issue at this year’s Annual Meeting in Davos. Within this context, I took part in a discussion on the financial sustainability and future of health systems. We discussed the question: How will health systems look in 2040? The session was the culmination of the “Scenarios for Sustainable Health Systems” project, whose steering board I served on in 2012. The discussion centred on the visions of several countries for new and better healthcare models, and how we as...
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January 24, 2013
Health in hard places
Improving health in the developing world must go beyond drug pricing and donations, argues Joseph Jimenez, is CEO of Novartis AG.
When it comes to health care, all stakeholders – patients, service providers, pharmaceutical companies, and governments – know that something needs to change. For decades, health-care spending has increased faster than economic growth by an average of two percentage points in OECD countries. And as the population ages and the incidence of chronic diseases rises, the problem will only get worse if not addressed. We need new and better models – and effective...
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January 24, 2013
The three hurdles to healthy living
Robert Flaherty, CEO of Ketchum, on the flawed mindset that stops us from tackling the scourge of chronic illnesses. Read the World Economic Forum’s Healthy Living Charter, published today.
In this season of new year resolutions, you may think that the biggest obstacles to healthy living are lack of willpower, a lack of time to exercise and a love of cheese, pasta and good wine. OK, those are my obstacles.
However, at the more serious global policy level, the real obstacles to reducing chronic illness and promoting healthy living are short-termism, self-interest and the fear of...
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January 24, 2013
Ideas @Davos: surgical snake robots
Howard Choset describes how his surgical ‘snake’ robots save lives by providing minimally invasive repairs and diagnostics without the need for risky, open surgery.
‘Snake’ robots thread through the body to places that other tools cannot reach, explains Howard Choset in the above video. The snakes are rigid in that they hold their shape, but are flexible enough to wind around parts of the body.
Three operations have been successfully carried out with the robots. In one case, the patient went home the next day following a procedure which would normally have involved a two-week stay...
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January 24, 2013
How do you measure happiness?
Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established following the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. All 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve these goals by 2015. Regular progress reports have been published since 2004 and it looks likely that the initiative will be declared a “partial success” by its target year. But what will happen after 2015?Well, these goals have focused quite explicitly on objective indicators. They are considered, quite rightly, to be important determinants of a good life....
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January 23, 2013
The power of vaccines
Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi Alliance and Davos participant, on what can be done to bring vaccines to those who need them most.
As CEO of the GAVI Alliance, I am coming to Davos to talk about the challenges and opportunities of public-private partnerships, with an emphasis on innovative financing. The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is the perfect place for a dialogue that brings together industry, civil society, UN agencies and countries around a shared response to the challenge of protecting children against vaccine preventable illness. In 2000, the Forum acted as midwife to the birth of...
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January 20, 2013
Sustainable Health Systems - Visions, Strategies, Critical Uncertainties and Scenarios
The World Economic Forum has made health a priority global initiative, recognizing it as central to the Forum’s overall mission to improve the state of the world.Looking at health as a fundamental economic issue, the Forum aims to address two major gaps-access to health and access to care - making health and care an investment for economic development and growth.Executive Summary
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January 18, 2013
Annex Multistakeholder Collaboration for Healthy - Living Toolkit for Joint Action
To assist stakeholders in initiating and managing multistakeholder actions for Healthy Living, the Forum and the Pan American Health Organization, in collaboration with Bain & Company, have developed the “Toolkit for Multistakeholder Action”. The Toolkit is based on a simple six-block framework to help collaborations structure and progress with their joint work.The Toolkit includes a detailed Annex. The Annex provides hands-on templates and practical resources designed to summarize key data and information for Healthy Living collaborations in a simple and user-friendly manner. The one-...
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January 17, 2013
Multistakeholder Collaboration for Healthy - Living Toolkit for Joint Action
To assist stakeholders in initiating and managing multistakeholder actions for Healthy Living, the Forum and the Pan American Health Organization, in collaboration with Bain & Company, have developed the “Toolkit for Multistakeholder Action”. The Toolkit is based on a simple six-block framework to help collaborations structure and progress with their joint work. It provides step-by-step guidelines, hands-on templates, practical resources and case studies to illustrate solutions to the core challenges of multistakeholder actions at the local, national or global level. Read the...
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January 17, 2013
Charter for Healthy Living - A report from the World Economic Forum’s Healthy Living Initiative
This report presents the Charter for Healthy Living. The Charter’s main goal is to bring together public, private and civil society actors to deliver concrete multistakeholder actions that enable individuals, families and communities worldwide to lead healthy and active lives. To progress towards this goal, the Charter outlines specific focus areas for multistakeholder action, provides principles for a shared mindset for collaborative actions, calls for stakeholders to build on their core competencies to advance the healthy living agenda and stresses the importance of continuously monitoring...
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January 17, 2013
Will an ageing population bankrupt us?
As part of the Global Risks 2013 report, the World Economic Forum’s Risk Response Network has identified five “X Factor” risks in partnership with Nature. These look beyond mainstream risks to five emerging potential game-changers.
We are getting better at keeping people alive for longer. Are we setting up a future society that must struggle to cope with a mass of arthritic, demented and, above all, expensive elderly who are in need of long-term care and palliative solutions?
The blessings of 20th-century medicine appear ready to explode with the deciphering of the genome and attendant...
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January 11, 2013
War against obesity: Fat invoice?
Obesity is the fastest growing chronic disease, killing 2.8 million adults every year. In the United States, more than 35% of the population is obese and in the United Kingdom the figure has reached 25%. But developed countries are not the only ones facing this epidemic; developing nations are also getting fat.
The facts are staggering:
In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults over the age of 20 were overweight
30% of Mexican adults are obese
65% of people live in countries were obesity kills more than undernourishment does
In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity in the US were estimated...
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January 9, 2013
How hubris put our health at risk
The Dangers of Hubris on Human Health is one of three risk cases featured in the Global Risks 2013 report, published this week. Chiemi Hayashi is Head of Research at the Risk Response Network.
Most of us assume that if we come down with a nasty throat infection, we will take a course of antibiotics and soon get better. Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, bacteria-fighting drugs have cured many common ailments and consigned such terrors as deadly classroom measles infections to the past. However, evidence suggests that we may have grown dangerously complacent. Rising levels of...
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January 9, 2013
Building resilience for healthy living
Cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as diabetes are among today’s top killers, not just in the developed world but also in developing countries. At least one of us, in each family, will be affected. These diseases wreak havoc on the potential of individuals and families, push poor people deeper into poverty, drive national health systems to bankruptcy and stop economic development. Collectively, they will account for an output loss of US$ 47 trillion over the next 20 years.
These killers are advancing, but instead of building personal resilience and nurturing stronger...
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January 4, 2013
Why we should invest more in the education of girls
Shashi Tharoor is India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development. His most recent book is Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century.
NEW DELHI – One of the more difficult questions I found myself being asked when I was a United Nations under-secretary-general, especially when addressing a general audience, was: “What is the single most important thing that can be done to improve the world?”
It’s the kind of question that tends to bring out the bureaucrat in even the most direct of communicators, as one feels obliged to explain the complexity of the challenges confronting...
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December 19, 2012
History and human lives – The case for patents
December 1 was World AIDS day, a time for people around the world to unite in the fight against HIV and AIDS. While this fight continues, World AIDS day is also a time to reflect on how far science and medicine have come in battling this and other devastating diseases. The amount of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical innovation in the areas of HIV, cancer, and other serious diseases over the last several decades is truly astounding. Today, people receiving the latest medicines for HIV have a life-expectancy approaching national averages, thanks to advances in HIV testing and treatments...
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December 18, 2012
Scenarios for Sustainable Health Systems
The IssueInsightProject Steering BoardInteractionImpactContactThe IssueHealth systems have been a great success of the past century, fostering longer, healthier lives and thereby contributing to prosperity and growth. These gains have come at a price: OECD countries have seen healthcare costs consistently outgrow the economy for decades. While this trend has been perceived as a long-term challenge, the fiscal crisis and demographic shifts have intensified the issues, making it necessary to explore how sustainable health systems can be achieved.InsightWorldwide, healthcare is now a US$ 7...
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December 14, 2012
Why we can be optimistic this World AIDS Day
When World AIDS Day was first commemorated in 1988 there was very little to be optimistic about. Today, there is real cause to be hopeful. It took a Big Push, but now free treatment is widely available in much of the developing world where more HIV+ people are getting life-saving medication every year. Critics said this couldn’t be done, but we proved them wrong. With another Big Push, we can end the AIDS pandemic, just like we eliminated small pox.
The optimism for this once unthinkable goal is based on the progress we have seen in the past 10 years. The proof is in the results. In 2002,...
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December 1, 2012
Ten things you need to know about the future of health
What will the future of health and healthcare look like? In a series of blog posts by the World Economic Forum’s Strategic Foresight and Health teams, a number of leading voices will present their own visions for the future. Contributions are linked to the Scenarios for Sustainable Health Systems project, the Workplace Wellness Alliance and the Healthy Living Initiative. In the following post, Gary Phillips, Director and Head of Healthcare Industries at the World Economic Forum, shares his perspective on the future of health. Your smartphone will be a more useful medical instrument to...
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November 23, 2012
Who’s afraid of mobile Internet in healthcare?
What will the future of health and healthcare look like? In a series of blog posts by the World Economic Forum’s Strategic Foresight and Health teams, a number of leading voices will present their own visions for the future. Contributions are linked to the Scenarios for Sustainable Health Systems project, the Workplace Wellness Alliance and the Healthy Living Initiative. In the following post, Andrew Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Proteus Biomedical, shares his perspective on the future of health.Healthcare in the 21st century will be transformed by a new utility more available than...
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November 23, 2012
The globalization of non-communicable diseases
What will the future of health and healthcare look like? In a series of blog posts by the World Economic Forum’s Strategic Foresight and Health teams, a number of leading voices will present their own visions for the future. Contributions are linked to the Scenarios for Sustainable Health Systems project, the Workplace Wellness Alliance and the Healthy Living Initiative. In the following post, Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, shares his perspective on the future of health.The acronym NCD – non-communicable diseases – evolved as a way to draw a contrast between two...
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November 22, 2012
A healthcare scenario for 2040
What will the future of health and healthcare look like? In a series of blog posts by the World Economic Forum’s Strategic Foresight and Health teams, a number of leading voices will present their own visions for the future. Contributions are linked to the Scenarios for Sustainable Health Systems project, the Workplace Wellness Alliance and the Healthy Living Initiative. In the following post, Nicolaus Henk, Director of Global Healthcare Systems and Services Practice at McKinsey & Company, shares his perspective on the future of health.The year is 2040. Healthcare is transformed through...
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November 22, 2012
The challenge of medical empowerment
Esther Dyson, CEO of EDventure Holdings, is an active investor in a variety of start-ups around the world. Her interests include information technology, health care, private aviation, and space travel.
ABU DHABI – If people can make themselves healthy, should we blame them for getting sick? That is the stark question raised not only by broadening acceptance of the idea that people should assume some responsibility for their health by eating right, exercising, and so forth, but also by the exciting – and necessary – new trend toward patient empowerment.
Of course, the list of “good behavior”...
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November 21, 2012
Digital Health
Emerging mobile platforms and the rapid progress in medical technologies are poised to trigger more accessible health services in the decade to come.Mobile Health (or m-health) is the cover-all term for the use of mobile devices in the healthcare arena. The key benefit of mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) or mobile phones is in the way it enable communication and the delivery of medical information between practitioners and patients.Mobile health may be of particular benefit in the developed world where hand-held devices and other mobile communications systems are in...
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September 28, 2012
mHealth: an idea whose time has come
Puja lives in a remote village in Bangladesh with her husband and his elderly father. She got married a year ago, and now she is pregnant with her first child. She is concerned about what diet to follow to ensure the baby is strong and healthy, but the doctor only comes by her village every second week.Somporn lives in north-eastern Thailand, running a rice farm with her family. Her husband has a bad cough, and she is worried he might have tuberculosis. She suspects that he does not take the medication that was prescribed to him, and that he does not take his condition seriously.Joachim is a...
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May 24, 2012
Lexicon of health care for Africa: M is for mobility, T is for transport
In my last blog I wrote about the focus on innovation at the World Economic Forum for Africa. One of the most significant changes in development in Africa is the spread of the use of new technologies, particularly the mobile phone – now known as ‘mhealth’.There is well-founded hope that mobile communications will impact health care across Africa – both in rural and urban areas. They have huge potential for the flow of information. But mobile does not mean mobility.It has to be recognised that despite the exciting potential, there are limits to what a mobile phone can do. Much of rural Africa...
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May 9, 2012
Being optimistic about non-communicable diseases
The difference is striking. Only two years ago, the Geneva Health Forum (GHF) had a single session devoted to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In 2012, the entire biennial meeting of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of Geneva was held under that theme. The hosts put together an innovative and courageous programme, covering aspects as diverse as they were important.I was invited to join the panel on “Global and National NCD platforms”, at which I discussed the importance of the economic dimension of NCDs. A deeper understanding of the immense economic burden of NCDs is...
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April 24, 2012
Health in the Americas: maximizing impact through collaboration
The health landscape in the Americas has changed. Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases are the main cause of death in the Region. Nearly 4 million lives are lost every year to these non-communicable diseases. Health systems are under immense pressure to cover costs of billions of dollars. In Mexico, for example, the direct cost of these obesity related non-communicable diseases to the health system was USD$3.3 billion in 2008. This amounts to as much as 0.3% of gross domestic product and 13% of total health expenditure in 2008. The outlook is bleak...
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April 20, 2012
Deworming to stay in school
Last month, the Delhi Government rolled out a mass school-based deworming program targeting 3.6 million children. The Government of Bihar launched a program reaching over 17 million children last year. These trailblazing initiatives are shown to be among the most promising solutions to global poverty. Now it’s time to institutionize them.Worm infections are now seen as a proxy for poverty. The World Health Organization estimates 800 million preschool and school-age children are at risk.[1] These parasites can cause children to regularly suffer from anemia, diarrhea, and abdominal...
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March 27, 2012
Genetics: Shining a Mirror on Disease and Hunger
In 2010, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) overtook infectious disease as the leading killer worldwide. These include illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and the ravages of malnutrition.A recent study by the World Economic Forum and Harvard University has estimated that NCDs will cost the world economy approximately US$ 47 trillion over the next 20 years, representing 75% of 2011 global GDP and surpassing the cost of the global financial crisis.The numbers are so overwhelming that they can even stun a cancer doctor like me who is used to breathtaking statistics and gloomy...
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February 9, 2012
The five bad habits of healthcare
Think about the last time you were ill, or someone close to you was in hospital. As you sat in the waiting room, were you calm and collected? Was your mind clear and ready to make optimal decisions about the future and which course of treatment to choose?No, you may think, but at least I could trust the doctors to be the voice of pure reason. They are trained to weigh up options coolly and accurately: they always select the best available one, and for the least cost.In fact, all our decisions (whether we are patients, professionals, providers or policymakers) are influenced by mental...
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February 8, 2012
Preventing the preventable in a new era of health
The day began with an invigorating session on the challenges posed by non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The sense in the room was that unquestionably a new era for global health is upon us. Countries are simultaneously struggling with communicable and non-communicable diseases, challenging their healthcare systems to be able to address primary and secondary prevention and to effectively respond to both acute and chronic care needs. All of these challenges emerge against the backdrop of a financial crisis and in times of serious economic uncertainty, when all public spending is increasingly...
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January 29, 2012
Information and technology will transform healthcare
Bonjour! Yesterday was a day when innovation, technology and information were at the forefront of the debate on health. It was exactly one year ago, at the 2011 Annual Meeting here in Davos, that the World Economic Forum and its partners released the Global Health Data Charter, a foundational document to foster capturing information which enables better care: better data for better health. Moving from paper to digital format is a prerequisite for using the wealth of data on health and care and to improve quality and productivity, and to foster innovation through technology-enabled care....
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January 28, 2012
Ending mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2015
Yesterday, I was proud to participate in a significant moment in the global AIDS response. I stood with leaders of the private sector at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as they committed to join forces to reach an ambitious, yet achievable, goal — ending pediatric AIDS by 2015.The launch of two groundbreaking initiatives – the Business Leadership Council and the Social Media Syndicate — will marshal the power of the private sector, converging business acumen, technology and other assets to support country-led efforts to prevent new infant infections and save mothers’ lives....
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January 28, 2012
Davos 2012: don’t allow health care costs to bankrupt your country
Health care costs should not bankrupt America or any other country. How can we keep that from happening?We need to be a lot smarter about both how we buy care and how we produce care.We need an industrial revolution for health care that will use computerized care support and the most current medical science to provide best care to our patients. We definitely need team care.Nearly 80 percent of our care costs come from patients with chronic conditions and co-morbidities — multiple diseases.These costs can be reduced by making care better.If we deliver care well, we can cut the complications...
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January 27, 2012
Tomorrow’s healthcare will need courage and collaboration
The second day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 started with an extraordinary private session of our Healthcare Community leaders discussing the transformation of the global healthcare landscape and the urgency for the emergence of new models for addressing gaps in the health “ecosystem”.Participants highlighted: the need for integration across the whole health spectrum (from prevention, early detection, diagnostic, treatment and care); the importance of focusing on health outcomes broadly, as opposed to individual services and products; the need to measure and report results;...
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January 26, 2012
How businesses and governments can team up to fund vaccines
Leaders from many fields are gathering in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum. I’m representing GAVI, which was born in Davos in 2000, and which like Davos brings together leaders from many fields, in this case to save children’s lives and protect people’s health through immunization.Public-private partnerships are part of the GAVI Alliance’s formula, which has helped countries to immunise 325 million children in our first 10 years, saving more than 5.5 million lives. GAVI is about ensuring children in the poorest countries have access to the same vaccines as children in...
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January 26, 2012
Qiagen’s Peer Schatz: five steps towards solving the global health crisis
Healthcare is caught in a slow-motion collision between two 21st Century realities. The world’s growing and aging population creates ever-greater needs for treatment. At the same time, limited resources constrict the availability of quality care.Perhaps half the people who die each day – more in poor areas – suffer from diseases that are preventable or curable. While medical advances do help patients live longer, the costs of care are rising. And even as science discovers new mechanisms of disease, medicine relies too much on trial and error.The good news is, solutions are at hand to improve...
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January 26, 2012
Davos 2012: Transforming the global healthcare landscape
Bonjour! As the head of the Health Team at the Forum, I am thrilled with this year’s programme at the Annual Meeting. We have a forward-looking agenda focusing on the ongoing transformation of the global health and healthcare landscape and the emergence of new models for sustainable health systems. In addition, public and private programmes are aligned to enable discussions on the globalization of non-communicable diseases, explore opportunities and innovative models for prevention of NCDs and multistakeholder collaboration to promote healthy living.Health is undoubtedly a key component of...
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January 25, 2012
Driving Healthcare through Technology
IT and communications technology hold the promise of radically transforming healthcare access and economics.
How can regional and global best practices improve healthcare through increased technology readiness?
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October 27, 2010
mHealth
Emerging mobile platforms and the rapid progress in medical technologies are poised to trigger more accessible health services in the decade to come.Mobile Health (or m-health) is the cover-all term for the use of mobile devices in the healthcare arena. The key benefit of mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) or mobile phones is in the way it enable communication and the delivery of medical information between practitioners and patients.Mobile health may be of particular benefit in the developed world where hand-held devices and other mobile communications systems are in...
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October 22, 2010
Global Health
Health is one of the World Economic Forum’s key focus areas as it is directly aligned with the Forum’s mission: Committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in shaping the global, regional and industry agendas. The Forum focuses on three key health-related activities: advocacy, dialogue and action through partnership.The Forum recognises health as an important part of long-term economic development and engages its members and other stakeholders to advocate health as an investment.Health is an issue that involves multiple stakeholders – intergovernmental organisations,...
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October 20, 2010
Innovative healthcare delivery models
Finding solutions for some of the health problems that we face will require a new approach. For endemic conditions, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, there needs to be a way of incentivizing major pharmaceutical companies to find affordable treatments for people on a low income. As chronic and non-communicable disease rates continue to climb, governments, private sector, and non-governmental organizations are wrestling with how to provide, disseminate, and pay for adequate prevention and treatment.The general agreement is that the old model of delivery is not sustainable in the...
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October 20, 2010
Healthy Living
The links between healthy populations, productive workforces and economic growth is well established. Worldwide, $47 trillion of cumulative output loss can be expected in the next two decades due to chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health disorders. Already 36 million deaths annually or more than 60% of global deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. However, 80% of cardiovascular problems and 40% of cancers can be prevented by tackling key risk factors.Effective prevention of NCDs will require exceptional levels of...
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October 20, 2010
Workplace Wellness Alliance
Workforces today are threatened by ageing and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – mainly cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes and mental ill-health. In parallel, demand for human capital is rising as economies grow and mature, and significant talent gaps of up to 45 million employees in Western Europe alone are forecast for 2030. These two trends form a vicious circle of dwindling workforce capacity and productivity.NCDs are forecast to cost a total of US$ 47 trillion over the next 20 years. Against this backdrop, preserving the health and productivity of the...
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October 20, 2010
Do You Trust Your Data?
Do You Trust Your Data?The volume of data created worldwide continues to double every 18 months; by 2012 it will reach 50 million times the information contained in all the books ever written.Given the incredible quantity of data now generated, how can one tell fact from fiction?Key Points• Legal systems have failed to keep pace with rapid advances in information and communication technologies, and has thus far been unable to address a myriad of questions that the digitalization of modern life has raised• Companies walk a fine line between the requirement to derive revenues from...
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January 29, 2010
