Global crisis will hit the sick and the poor the hardest, says leading World Bank economist
Media Release, Thursday 20 November 2008
“The global financial crisis will hurt the world’s poorest and least healthy the hardest," says Professor Peter Berman, Lead Economist of the World Bank and Adjunct Professor at Harvard School of Public Health speaking today in Melbourne.
“This dramatically increases the urgency for the world’s wealthier nations to expand and sustain their efforts to improve global health,” he said.
Professor Berman is a guest speaker at the 4th annual Nossal Institute Global Health Forum to be held today at the University of Melbourne.
The forum has attracted leaders from the World Health Organization, World Bank, AusAID, Oxfam, World Vision and notaries from the Asia Pacific region.
“This is a unique opportunity for the world to come together to discuss two critical aspects for developing countries, health financing and disability,” said Professor Graham Brown Director of the Nossal Institute for Global Health.
Professor Peter Berman says protecting poor people in low and middle income countries from the tragic burden of preventable disease and catastrophic health care payments is a great challenge of our time.
“It is imperative that the global crisis does not reduce or even slow aid to the countries most in need. The programs addressing communicable diseases like malaria and HIV as well as maternal and child health and nutrition are needed more than ever and must continue to expand, “he said.
According to global statistics the world’s richest countries spend 8-10 percent and more of their national incomes on health, with an average of over USD $3000 per person per year.
Poor countries spend only about 1/100th of the amounts per person, around $30 per person per year. For some countries, external aid is an important contributor to even that modest amount.
Professor Berman will address the following questions;
• What are the key strategies for improving health systems in poor countries? How do they choose? How do we build systems that provide services that are affordable, cost effective and sustainable?
• How to extend coverage of health insurance schemes to the poor?
• What the roles can government and private sector health care providers play?
Professor Berman’s talk “Health Systems Strategies: More, Better, New?” will explore different approaches being used worldwide to build up urgently needed public health programs to reach the world’s poorest.
He will discuss how policy makers in developing countries and aid-givers can use these approaches to accelerate health progress to meet the world’s eight Millennium Development Goals, four of which focus on health.
“These are issues where the World Bank and other global institutions have been leading world efforts and where Australia’s AusAID program and the Nossal Institute can be key players and contributors,” Professor Graham Brown said.
“It’s a testament to the convening power of the University of Melbourne that we are coordinating this meeting.”
“This gathering of world leaders will help to determine what works and doesn’t work. It is about improving the life for disadvantaged people around the globe," he said.
For interviews contact
Rebecca Scott
Media Officer
University of Melbourne
Mobile: 0417 164 791
For more information visit www.ni.unimelb.edu.au/NewEvents/events.html
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