Bill Gates: You Can Help the World Save 34 Million Lives

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

If I told you that we could save the lives of, say, 10 million people, mainly by doing things we already know how to do, that would get your attention, right?

Well, it turns out that this is the number of people the world can save from dying of tuberculosis over the next 15 years. The figure comes from a study published in The Lancet that looked at what’s possible if the world invests more in global health.

The report (which our foundation funded) concludes that with the right investments, the world can essentially close the health gap between rich and poor countries. Such a convergence would represent a historic achievement, and a significant improvement in the human condition.

In these pie charts from that report, you can see the disproportionate deaths from treatable conditions that low-income countries endure, compared to rich ones:

So, what are these “right investments”?

It’s all straightforward stuff. In the case of tuberculosis, we’re talking about faster and better tests, and getting people the right treatment at the right time—things we already know how to do, but that we don’t do in enough places around the world.

Consider HIV/AIDS. If the world can intensify its fight against this pandemic—by expanding access to the great prevention and treatment options already on the market, and perhaps developing some new tools along the way—we can prevent 21 million deaths over the next decade and a half.

Source: Quartz (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care