Changing the perspective: from disease control to healthy people
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Never before has the health situation improved so fast across the world. At the same time, exposures to major health risks rise just as quickly and dramatically. Looking beyond 2015 it is clear that we are moving from an era focusing mainly on communicable diseases and survival to a time of rapid escalation of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the need to put maximum healthy life expectancy at the centre of our work and minds.
What are the implications of those epidemiological and societal changes for governments, for researchers, and for the international health system?
The fact that it is time to focus on health and not merely on disease will have major implications.
Ministers of health will have to move out of their comfort zone and ensure that investments in, for example, energy, infrastructure, gender equality, and food contribute to maximal health impacts. This will require different competencies to work across sectors and a new type of accountability framework.
Source: The Lancet Global Health (link opens in a new window)
- Categories
- Health Care
