Economist: Spending 1 Cent in Every $10 Could Save 8 Million Lives in Poor Nations

By spending just one cent in every ten dollars of their wealth on health aid, rich countries could save millions of lives each year in poor nations -- and boost economic development -- Harvard University economist Jeffrey Sachs said Wednesday. "It's the best investment available in the world bar none," said Sachs, who is in Geneva for the annual meeting of the decision- making body of the 191-nation World Health Organization (WHO).

"Health is essential for economic development -- without it you can't achieve economic progress," he told reporters. Sachs led a WHO commission which last year calculated that spending $66 billion per year on health in developing countries would save around 8 million lives a year by preventing or treating diseases like AIDS, malaria and TB. The commission also said the investment could generate economic benefits of $360 billion per year by 2020 by keeping workers healthy and reducing the need to fight disease in the future.

Realizing that government intervention alone is not enough, the UN has increasingly fostered involvement of private corporations and foundations such as the one run by computer tycoon Bill Gates and his wife Melinda. Most major WHO campaigns against high profile diseases involve such alliances.

Sachs said initiatives like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which brings together businesses and governments, showed the international community was getting serious about health in developing countries. "We're still nowhere near where we need to be, but the tide has turned," he said. "But I'm going to keep on saying the same thing. This can't be done without more help from rich countries."

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