PHA-Exchange> [afro-nets] Health agencies outline 'best buys' for poor nations

[Claudio Schuftan]

Health agencies outline 'best buys' for poor nations
----------------------------------------------------

From: Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel at undp.org>
4 April 2006
Source: SciDev.Net

Here we go again... throwing magic bullets at deep social prob-
lems... and blaming the victims!

Claudio Schuftan
mailto:claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn


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[BEIJING] International aid agencies have outlined how develop-
ing countries can maximise public health benefits with limited
resources.

The advice appears in three books launched yesterday (3 April)
in Beijing by the US-based Disease Control Priorities Project.

The books describe the current and future state of global
health, and predict that in the coming decades a billion people
in developing nations will die from preventable diseases such as
malaria, HIV/AIDS, and cardiovascular disease.

They suggest some 'best health buys' ­ proven, cost-effective
steps developing countries can take to improve health.

Imposing a 33 per cent tax on tobacco, for example, could extend
the lives of up to 65 million people in developing nations who
smoked in 2000.

Meanwhile, a combination of aspirin and other cheap drugs could
cut deaths from cardiovascular diseases by at least 25 per cent.
Such diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide and ac-
count for 27 per cent of deaths in developing nations.

To tackle HIV/AIDS, the books recommend targeting high risk
groups such as sex workers and injecting drug users, by promot-
ing 100 per cent condom use, and providing anti-retroviral drugs
and breast milk substitutes to prevent mother-to-child transmis-
sion of HIV.

The books are intended as resources for policymakers, donors,
and health programme managers and are freely available online.

The senior vice president of the World Bank's Human Development
Network says that by promoting evidence-based decision making,
the books would help developing nations "make the most efficient
use of scarce healthcare workers and budgets to better serve the
poor and other vulnerable groups".

Nearly 500 scientists, health economists, public health practi-
tioners, and other specialists from around the world contributed
to the books.

The three books ­ Disease Control Priorities in Developing Coun-
tries, Priorities in Health and Global Burden of Disease and
Risk Factors ­ were largely funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and are available online at:
http://www.dcp2.org/page/main/ViewPublications.html

The Disease Control Priorities Project is supported by the World
Bank, the World Health Organization and the US National Insti-
tutes of Health's Fogarty International Center.
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