Despite the fact that income inequality is rising around the world, health outcomes and access to health care are, paradoxically, becoming more and more equal.
On a day-to-day or even year-to-year basis, it may not seem as if health care access is improving. But Dr. Christoph Benn of The Global Fund takes a historical, global view of health care access and opportunities and notes there are signs of progress.
“We have a lot of evidence now that the world is converging when it comes to mortality rates, when it comes to disease burden, and so on,” said Benn in an interview with HuffPost Live’s Alyona Minkovski at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Because of unprecedented policy changes and global investment in health, things are slowly improving all around the world. For instance, since 1990, global maternal deaths have dropped by 45 percent, and the percent of children who die before five years old has been cut in half, notes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
And in the United States, the Affordable Care Act has insured an additional 10 million people. Medical efficiencies in Indian hospital systems deliver top-notch care at a fraction of the developed world price.
At a conference where world leaders discuss everything from terrorism to financial crises to epidemics, things may sometimes seem dire for our little blue planet.
“But that’s why it is very important that, from time to time, we remind the world that not everything is getting worse,” Benn concluded. “Some things are getting better, and health is certainly one of those elements.”